Child Custody

[damo]

Hi,

My sister in law is married to a Thai man. They were married before bhuddah and have no official registration of thier marriage through the Amphor. They have been married for about 2 & 1/2 years and have a son who is nearly 2 years old. The fathers name is on the birth certicicate.

In recent months my sisters husband has become increasingly violent and my thoughts are that he is using Yaba. Without getting in to it to much his behavior towards my sister is unacceptable and she now finds her self in the situation where she needs to get away from him, ultimatly for her own safety.

I had thoughts of bringing my sister in law and her son to Australia for a while, not sure how long, 3 months, maybe a year, not sure. I thought with western thinking that this would create a custody type headache as he would have to give permission for thier son to leave the country.

Anyhow, I was reading of another board members custody issue where he had virtually no rights concerning his child due to the fact that they were married but not legally (not before the amphor). The impression that I got from follwing that board members thread is that allthough the childs fathers name may be on that childs birth certificate but because he and the mother aren't married officially he then has no right to custody of the said child.

If this is correct then what would my sister in laws position be in regards to obtaining a passport and leaving Thailand and coming to Australia with her son?

Any practical advice will be much apprieciated.

Damo.

[Petesear]

Is your sister-in-law Thai?

[damo]

Yes Thai, my wife's sister.

[PoorSucker]

He has no legal rights as they are not registered married.

He have to go to court to be legally recognized as the father if they are not married.

In court the father, mother and the child must testify that he's the father.

Normally this can take place when the child is seven years old.

What says on the birth certificate does not matter.

[damo]

If this is the case then could she get a passport for her son with just her own signature or would she need to be awarded some sort of solecustody???

[damo]

Another thing is that the birth of her son was registered in the fathers tabien bahn, not in her tabien bahn. I wouldn't normally get involved but she's a good chick and he's put in hospital a few times. Yesterday he walked into her workplace and assulted her, busted her real bad and put in her in hospital.

[pjclark1]

The child of an unmarried mother is entirely hers in Thailand, the child has no father.

The child of a married mother is 50% property of the man to which she is married (not the biological father)

The biological fathering of a child in Thailand (to an unmarried woman) carries no significance in Thai law.

In neither case is any permission needed by the man to take the child out of the country.

Parental abduction is not a crime that exists in Thailand.

Any Thai can be registered in any other Thais Tabien Ban book, all that is needed is their signature on the permission form.

The Tabien Ban book does not register births, it merely registers a Thai persons official place of residence.

[Mario2008]

The mother has sole custody over the child, in the eyes of the law the father is nothing as he didn't legitimize the child.

She can apply for a Thai passport for the child, but will need proof from the amphur she has sole custody. That is a simple form. The passport procedure is explained in detail here: http://www.mfa.go.th/web/473.php?id=3167

Have the doctor make statements of any mistreatment. If it ends up in a custody battle, which I doubt, a Thai judge will not award custody if a person is deemed a danger to the child.

[Mario2008]

He has no legal rights as they are not registered married.

He have to go to court to be legally recognized as the father if they are not married.

In court the father, mother and the child must testify that he's the father.

Normally this can take place when the child is seven years old.

What says on the birth certificate does not matter.

Not completely correct. The procedure at the amphur is is that all 3 must testify and agree that the father is indeed the father. The procedure at the court doesn't require that the child testifies or that both child and mother agree that the father is indeed the father. The court procedure is for cases where the child is not old enough to make a statement or on of the parties denies that the father is indeed the father.

[damo]

O.k. every thing seems straight forward.

If the applicant was born to parents who did not sign a marriage certificate, only the mother of the applicant can sign the parental consent form. She will need to bring a letter guaranteeing sole guardianship issued by her domicile district office (Por Kor 14) accompanied by her ID Card which must bear the title ‘Miss’.

Extracted from the Ministry of Foriegn Affairs website 22/2/2011.

Get the letter the get the passport.

any one done this sort of thing before?