Divorce - Wife Is After Foreign Assets.

[JustAsking2]

I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with a Thai ex taking them to court in another country to try to get at their foreign assets.

I found out that my wife has been trying to contact a lawyer in Oz to try to get at my Australian assets and not sure if I should be worried about it or not.

She has done very well out of me over the last 10 years in Thailand, but I was never of the thought that she'd have any inclination to go after me back home.

We have no kids from our marriage, but both have children from previous spouses, my son is an adult & her daughters are teenagers.

Our marriage was never registered in Oz and we have never lived together in Oz, but have both visited every 2 years over the 10 years together.

[irlguy1]

Unless you got a rock solid prenup your wife is entitled to half your shit. If you actually married her officially and not just a Thai ceremony then get yourself a good lawyer mate. Your marriage is legal and stands by the laws of marriage in your own country.

Edited May 11, 2012 by irlguy1

[stranger-in-paradise]

I would suggest checking this out with a good lawyer, because dividing up assets during a divorce depends on where you were married and where you divorce. Where you were married defines the laws of how your assets were allocated at the time of the marriage. For example, in the UK both partners share all their assets on the day they marry (hence the famous words in the ceremony "with all my worldly goods I thee endow...") That is not the same in all countries. In The Netherlands, partners entering a marriage do not pool resources on their wedding day. They each have ownership separately of what was theirs beforehand.

Where you get divorced will define how those (shared) assets are divided up. Again, it varies from country to country; Spain is a better place for a man to get divorced. The Netherlands has a strict formula to be applied (almost, fill in a spreadsheet) whilst the UK seems to be more flexible and one of the better places for a woman to get divorced.

If you were not married in Oz, nor have ever "set up a household" in that fair country, nor are getting divorced there now, then I see no reason that Australian jurisdiction would apply. Your passport defines your citizenship, not the laws under which you marry or divorce. If you are divorcing in Thailand, then Thai law would apply for division of assets. I don't know the set up over there, but she may have rights to assets outside of Thailand. Worth checking with a good lawyer in Thailand.

[mike123ca]

I would get the divorce here in Thailand.

Cut off any income from your sources.

Let her pay for an Aussie lawyer on her dime.

[rizla]

The root cause, is plain and simple...Dont get married...as the op stated he has assets in aus so surely it wasn`t just to get a cheap visa..If it was, a costly mistake..like many do.

[irlguy1]

Sorry I wasn't clear in my above post. I meant to add that if she is in Thailand and you divorce there then if she agrees to divorce then it's easy costs about 100baht but if she doesn't agree then your governed by where divorce takes place. So for god sake don't let her get to Oz.

[Mario2008]

I presume you were married in Thailand, without a prenuptial agreement. That means that all assets that were acquired DURING he marriage will be divided, unless at the time of divorce an agreement saying otherwise was made.

So if you had 100,000 before the marriage and now have 200,000 you split only 100,000 with the ex, not the full 200,000. Debts are also assets and will also be split, and of course it is not only about your assets but also hers.

The rule applies to all your and her assets and includes assets abroad. That the marriage is not registered in Oz makes no difference, there was a legal marriage (and divorce). There are several treaties regarding divorce and splitting of assets and normally the law of the country where one was married will be applied regarding the division of property.

[Farma]

I recommend you contact an Australian lawyer to clarify what she can and can't do.

From experience, Australian divorce courts recognise Thai marriage and will issue an Australian divorce. Contested property settlement can be done through an arbitrator with the arbitrators ruling submitted to the Australian court.

If divorced in Thailand, the Thai court can accept foreign asset statement for consideration. The statement needs to be translated, notorised with a couple of other stamps reqd. However a Thai judgment on Australian assets is not enforceable in Australia.

[TommoPhysicist]

If you have never lived in Australia as man and wife, she will have no access to Australian courts.

A handy little rule I found out a few years ago.

[JustAsking2]

Thanks. I've sent a message to a few law firms in Oz. I guess that I won't hear anything back over the weekend.

[expatdreamer]

The Australian Family Law Act 1975 (updated) states, under the section on jurisdiction in matrimonial causes, that:

"Proceedings for a divorce order may be instituted under this Act if, at the date on which the application for the order is filed in a court, either party to the marriage:

• is an Australian citizen
  
• is domiciled in Australia; or
  
• is ordinarily resident in Australia and has been so resident for 1 year immediately preceding that date."
  

See http://www.comlaw.go...t#_Toc322943168

To me as a non-lawyer, this suggests that an Australian lawyer & the Australian courts (and hence the harsher Australian laws) could only get involved (ie have jurisdiction) if you have been living in Australia.

Given you havent, I would keep it that way until this is all sorted. Note only one party needs to be resident in Oz according to the above, so if you were to come back and live in Oz without first getting divorced in Thailand, then theoretically she could come after you for your Oz assets. She would obviously need to finance an Oz lawyer to do so which isnt cheap, so presumably she has the financial ability to do so.

As Mario has pointed out, Thai law is fairer (ie what was yours before you wed remains yours) so getting divorced in Thailand and a financial settlement in Thailand is the way to go.

Anyway there has been some contradictory advice in this thread when you look at all the responses, so would appreciate if you could let us know through this thread what the lawyers in Oz come back to you with.

Edited May 12, 2012 by expatdreamer

[keith101]

when thai women visit other coutries they hear stories of how when people get divorced the wife is entitled to half of whatever the husband has and make plans in their heads of what can i get from him if we get divorced . as an aussie and knowing thai women living there they dicussed this a lot and told family back here in thailand all about it so you can imagine what is going through their minds when they go for a visit to see boyfriend or with a husband .

my now wife came on a three month visit to aus before i moved here and the first thing she found out is that i had absolutely nothing ,living in a 2 bed rented house and had a $500 car and very old furniture so well and truly new nothing to offer except myself and 2 years after getting married everything is great and never argue about anything

[Farma]

Looking at the criteria posted by expatdreamer I have a feeling the lawyers will advise she cant initiate anything in OZ

My experience was complicated to say the least. Neither party fully satisfied the criteria listed. An application was made with the oz family law court first deciding they had jurisdiction prior to accepting the divorce application.

[Mario2008]

There are two things:

- the divorce

- dividing of the property.

One cannot divorce in Oz, but the division of the property could be a whole other matter.

[letitbe]

Unless you got a rock solid prenup your wife is entitled to half your shit. If you actually married her officially and not just a Thai ceremony then get yourself a good lawyer mate. Your marriage is legal and stands by the laws of marriage in your own country.

Unless you got a rock solid prenup your wife is entitled to half your shit. If you actually married her officially and not just a Thai ceremony then get yourself a good lawyer mate. Your marriage is legal and stands by the laws of marriage in your own country.

if youve made sure shes financially ok then thats ok but you were married for 10 years so IMO she deserves 1/2 your assets but not more

[letitbe]

The root cause, is plain and simple...Dont get married...as the op stated he has assets in aus so surely it wasn`t just to get a cheap visa..If it was, a costly mistake..like many do.

The root cause, is plain and simple...Dont get married...as the op stated he has assets in aus so surely it wasn`t just to get a cheap visa..If it was, a costly mistake..like many do.

how sad you are my first wife got 1/2 and deserved it my second thai wife has already been given total control of 80% of our assets and if she ever leaves me she deserves it all Its called trust something sadly laking these days

[JustAsking2]

She has her own business, which I paid for.

She owns 2 shop-houses in Pattaya, which I paid for.

She owns another house in the village, which I paid for.

She owns a 10 year old Nissan that I paid for.

She also owns one other house in the village.

Most of her income comes from renting out one of the shop-houses, as well as renting the 2 houses in the village.

Her first ex-husband also gives her 5,000 baht per month for his 2 children and 50,000 baht from me.

Her business generates peanuts, so I think that she will be better off if she moves out to the village and then she can generate more rental income.

Sure her life isn't going to be easier when the 50,000 baht per month disappears, but well that wont be my problem.

[honoluludave]

If these are assets that you had before the marrage she is not entitled to them. No worry. Only assets aquired during the marrage are divided. Which includes the assets that she has aquired. That whole list you just mentioned should be divided in half. With you getting half of what you spent back. Just be careful. Some greedy thai wifes do not like the idea of splitting their assets up during a divorce

[Nana Cowboy]

Yeah pal, it would seem that what you need to be concerned about is assets accumulated during the marriage and slice that in half. If she has half of those assets or more right now then you should be in good shape

[TommoPhysicist]

She has her own business, which I paid for.

She owns 2 shop-houses in Pattaya, which I paid for.

She owns another house in the village, which I paid for.

She owns a 10 year old Nissan that I paid for.

She also owns one other house in the village.

Most of her income comes from renting out one of the shop-houses, as well as renting the 2 houses in the village.

Her first ex-husband also gives her 5,000 baht per month for his 2 children and 50,000 baht from me.

Her business generates peanuts, so I think that she will be better off if she moves out to the village and then she can generate more rental income.

Sure her life isn't going to be easier when the 50,000 baht per month disappears, but well that wont be my problem.

She is trying to grab your assets in Oz, and you are still giving her 50k a month.

One born every minute!

[damo]

plan your work - work your plan....take your time, arm yourself with factual information, make a descision and do something. If you do this then you will be in a better position than her. I once heard this saying that when a woman leaves a man the woman usually will know at least a couple of years before hand whilst its believed the man will take another couple of years to work out why. Your lucky you have found out about her exploits now.

Please follow up with how you go as I am quite interested.

At the least she can't get legal aid because she is not an Aussie citizen..

Chok Dii..

[JustAsking2]

She has her own business, which I paid for.

She owns 2 shop-houses in Pattaya, which I paid for.

She owns another house in the village, which I paid for.

She owns a 10 year old Nissan that I paid for.

She also owns one other house in the village.

Most of her income comes from renting out one of the shop-houses, as well as renting the 2 houses in the village.

Her first ex-husband also gives her 5,000 baht per month for his 2 children and 50,000 baht from me.

Her business generates peanuts, so I think that she will be better off if she moves out to the village and then she can generate more rental income.

Sure her life isn't going to be easier when the 50,000 baht per month disappears, but well that wont be my problem.

She is trying to grab your assets in Oz, and you are still giving her 50k a month.

One born every minute!

no, the 50,000 baht just dried up..

[JustAsking2]

I once heard this saying that when a woman leaves a man the woman usually will know at least a couple of years before hand whilst its believed the man will take another couple of years to work out why. Your lucky you have found out about her exploits now.

Yes, I am very lucky to discover what she is planning.

She still doesn't know yet that I know, so I have the upper hand until the end of month when she's expecting 50,000 baht from me.

I wonder how she will reduce her spending by over 1,500 baht per day next month?

[TommoPhysicist]

I once heard this saying that when a woman leaves a man the woman usually will know at least a couple of years before hand whilst its believed the man will take another couple of years to work out why. Your lucky you have found out about her exploits now.

Yes, I am very lucky to discover what she is planning.

She still doesn't know yet that I know, so I have the upper hand until the end of month when she's expecting 50,000 baht from me.

I wonder how she will reduce her spending by over 1,500 baht per day next month?

My previous was planning it for at least one year, I still have no idea why and expect never to know.

[harrry]

You could spike her guns. Lodge a divorce application in the court here. It is extremely unlikely that Australian courts will procede if it is before another court.

[damo]

You could spike her guns. Lodge a divorce application in the court here. It is extremely unlikely that Australian courts will procede if it is before another court.

Good thinking, I often wonder how this sort of situation can play out, I would expect the Thai court will not be in a position to enforce a court order outside of Thailand and visversa Australia having no place in Thai courts. Sticky situation, I assume you only get divorced once? in the country you would be residing in? or do you divorce once and settle and then travel abroad to divide your assets abroad and then settle again?

Damo

[Geekfreaklover]

I

I can't see how an Australian court would have due restriction over this.

Part of me agrees with Harry. Lodge a motion for divorce in the Thai court shooting for half the Thai assets aquired after the marriage. Perhaps play hard ball and shake things up. There is a mediation stage with a family judge in the court procceedings where the OP could hand over what he feels fit of the Thai assets in exchange for full and final closure.

Either that or do the amphur divorce for a fraction of the price and include in the terms some language to the effect of full and final settlement.

An australian court looking at a translated copy of either of the above wouldn't consider a new action unless there was some serious hiding of assets that she was unaware of.

Whatever you do it would be best to do it soonest and in Thailand,

[bkk_mike]

The main things are:

Where did you get married?

When did you buy the assets (house?) in Australia?

Where are you getting divorced?

Where do you live now?

Assuming you get divorced in Thailand and were married in Thailand, any assets that you each owned prior to marriage are yours outright. (If you were still paying off a mortgage the percentage of the house that was mortgaged could be treated as community property though).

Any assets bought during the marriage would be split 50/50 in a Thai court,

If you have children, the court can make you pay child support but there is no alimony with a Thai divorce.

So, if the Australian assets were bought prior to your marriage, make sure you have proof of that and divorce in Thailand and if most of the assets bought since marriage are in her name, and in Thailand, you might even be able to get some money out of the Thai court judgment.... So long as you're not living in Oz, and especially if you'd never lived in Oz, the Oz courts are unlikely to even look at the case if the divorce happens in Thailand.

If your wife reconciles and suggests you emigrate to Australia in the near future... she's been talking to a lawyer and found out how much better off she would be if divorcing in Oz.

Note: I did hear of a case of a Russian billionaire who was living in the UK with his wife when she filed for divorce... After talking to his lawyer and finding out that his wife could get half his total assets, and alimony, etc. in the UK, he persuaded his wife to reconcile. Then they moved back to Russia and once the original UK divorce filing lapsed, he turned around and divorced her in Russia.

I don't know how true the story is, but where you divorce is extremely important in calculating the final settlement, and whoever files first effectively chooses the jurisdiction.

[Forethat]

She has her own business, which I paid for.

She owns 2 shop-houses in Pattaya, which I paid for.

She owns another house in the village, which I paid for.

She owns a 10 year old Nissan that I paid for.

She also owns one other house in the village.

Most of her income comes from renting out one of the shop-houses, as well as renting the 2 houses in the village.

Her first ex-husband also gives her 5,000 baht per month for his 2 children and 50,000 baht from me.

...

Her business generates peanuts, so I think that she will be better off if she moves out to the village and then she can generate more rental income.

"She" owns these properties....?

Sounds to me like those properties were acquired during your marriage...? If that's the case you are entitled to half of it. Or as Eddie Murphy would put it "half of her shit!"

Contact a Thai law firm and secure your half quickly, or at least you'll have a good argument to make her sign the divorce documents...

[harrry]

On rethinking this Australia may be not such a bad idea. all. They take into account all assets so the thai land is included.