What To Do To Recognize A Thai Child ?

[FritsSikkink]

Hello fellow members,

Does anyone know what the proces is in the following situation:

I am married with a Thai woman. She has a child 7 years old from a previous relation with a Thai man.

They were not married. The Thai man deceased a couple of years ago.

I want to recognize the child to be mine.

Any help would be appriciated

greetings Frits

[Thanyaburi Mac]

Seems to me you're looking at Adoption, not "recognition." And an adoption by a farang is a somewhat complicated matter.

Best bet might be for you and the Mrs to go down to your Provincial child welfare agency and inquire there. It's the "pa sa so koh" office.

FYI, my now wife adopted her nephew about 14 or so years ago, before we were married. At the provincial office one question they had for the interview was are we married. No, sez I, and the gal said, good, less complicated that way. The adoption went through about six months later.

Mac

[Mario2008]

Moved to family and children forum.

[FritsSikkink]

Been browsing through the internet and i think i am looking for custody/adoption

Edited July 5, 2012 by FritsSikkink

[TommoPhysicist]

If you are married officially to the lady (Amphur office wedding)

And she was never officially married to the Thai man (no Amphur wedding)

You can just go along to the Amphur office with her and the kid, if everyone says you are the daddy ....... job done.

(Hint, everyone has to forget the previous guy ever existed)

PS

If you bring up the subject of a Thai father with any official agency, you won't be able to do it this was.

Edited July 5, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[gregb]

If you are married officially to the lady (Amphur office wedding)

And she was never officially married to the Thai man (no Amphur wedding)

You can just go along to the Amphur office with her and the kid, if everyone says you are the daddy ....... job done.

(Hint, everyone has to forget the previous guy ever existed)

PS

If you bring up the subject of a Thai father with any official agency, you won't be able to do it this was.

It only works that way if the name on the birth certificate for the father was left blank. Otherwise, it is not quite so easy to simply forget the Thai man ever existed. In that case, you are back to adoption. You will need the death certificate of the biological father to proceed with the adoption. Also, check with your embassy before beginning the procedure. It was recently reported that Thailand is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, thus there is a protocol foreigners must follow if you wish the adoption to be recognized outside Thailand. Your embassy can explain how your country implements the protocol.

[TommoPhysicist]

It only works that way if the name on the birth certificate for the father was left blank. Otherwise, it is not quite so easy to simply forget the Thai man ever existed. In that case, you are back to adoption. You will need the death certificate of the biological father to proceed with the adoption. Also, check with your embassy before beginning the procedure. It was recently reported that Thailand is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, thus there is a protocol foreigners must follow if you wish the adoption to be recognized outside Thailand. Your embassy can explain how your country implements the protocol.

Nope, name on birth cert counts for nothing, you can just say I put a friends name down as I didn't think the father was coming back. They'll often 'correct' the birth certificate for a few $$$ if you ask nicely.

Edited July 5, 2012 by TommoPhysicist

[Mario2008]

With a name mentioned on the birth certificate and you going to the amphur claiming someone else is the real father questions can be raised and an explanation being demanded. (Not that it is uncommen to just name a relative as the father on the birth certificate, instead of leaving it blank. Which could be seen as shameful).

Another important factor is how old the child is and what you actually want to do, custody means you will be the caretaker of the child. You don't have to do much for that, it is a factual situation. It would be advisable to have the misses make a will, declaring that you should be the caretaker of the child in case she dies.

Adoption means you will become the legal father of the child. For that there are two ways:

1. an adoption under Thai law, which will not be recognised by your country

2. an international adoption, which will also be recognised by your country, and the child may acquire your nationality.

[FritsSikkink]

Thanks for the answers. Situation is like post #5.

Wife has been on the phone for a while and got some conflicting information in the beginning.

Have to go to Bangkok because the wedding was there bring passport, answer a couple of

questions and should be sorted in a couple of days. Will let you know the results.

[Mario2008]

Check with your embassy about recognising the child and if that will result in her acquiring your nationality and what you have to do for that.

[Brabo]

If you are married officially to the lady (Amphur office wedding)

And she was never officially married to the Thai man (no Amphur wedding)

You can just go along to the Amphur office with her and the kid, if everyone says you are the daddy ....... job done.

(Hint, everyone has to forget the previous guy ever existed)

PS

If you bring up the subject of a Thai father with any official agency, you won't be able to do it this was.

Wow is it really that easy?

I've got all the answers by this post.

Thanks

[Morakot]

Nope, name on birth cert counts for nothing, you can just say I put a friends name down as I didn't think the father was coming back. They'll often 'correct' the birth certificate for a few $$$ if you ask nicely.

Sorry Tommo, did I get this right?

(i) There is a child of a Thai women and a Thai man, with a birth certificate stating mother is Thai women XY and Thai father is XX.

(ii) Seven years after the birth of the child, the Thai woman starts claiming there was a mistake: the Thai man is not the father but a Caucasian man is the father.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Morakot

[gregb]

Nope, name on birth cert counts for nothing, you can just say I put a friends name down as I didn't think the father was coming back. They'll often 'correct' the birth certificate for a few $$$ if you ask nicely.

Sorry Tommo, did I get this right?

(i) There is a child of a Thai women and a Thai man, with a birth certificate stating mother is Thai women XY and Thai father is XX.

(ii) Seven years after the birth of the child, the Thai woman starts claiming there was a mistake: the Thai man is not the father but a Caucasian man is the father.

I disagree with TommoPhysicist in practice. It is technically true that under the letter of the law, the name on the birth certificate could simply be a "mistake". But for the people I've dealt with at the local ampur in Pathumthani you are going to get a bunch of questioning looks if you actually try this. They aren't stupid and do take their job seriously. Of course, carefully placed money may help to relieve some of their concerns, but my experience tells me that your request is going to go over like a lead balloon. They are not required to accept anyone's word that the father on the birth certificate was a mistake. It is an option available to them, but if they doubt your honesty they can quite equally just say "no" and tell you you'll have to go to family court. A smooth talking, influential Thai might also be a valuable asset in helping to alleviate their concerns.

Also, do keep in mind that what is being suggested works in Thailand only. It is extremely questionable whether any Western embassy would accept your petition for citizenship for your son after waiting 7 years to correct the "mistake" on the birth certificate. Do you honestly believe they don't know about the loopholes in the Thai laws? It is highly likely they would ask for a DNA sample to prove that this is really your child. If you don't care about this aspect of it, then it might not be a concern for you. But what happens if your wife dies unexpectedly and you want to return to your birth country? Your child wouldn't have citizenship, and you would be ineligible to adopt him at that point. It would be a very nasty problem.

If it were me, I would still go the international adoption route. It will take about 2 years, be a tremendous headache and cost substantially more than just going down to the ampur, but in the end you will have a completely legitimate process that you can truthfully recount to anyone who asks. Do remember, when you say "this is my son" at the ampur, and your wife says "this is the child's father" you are both actually lying. While I can't say how at the moment, it is not inconceivable that this could eventually come back to cause you problems.

In the end though, the decision on which method you take is entirely up to you.

Edited July 14, 2012 by gregb

[samsiam]

Nope, name on birth cert counts for nothing, you can just say I put a friends name down as I didn't think the father was coming back. They'll often 'correct' the birth certificate for a few $$$ if you ask nicely.

Sorry Tommo, did I get this right?

(i) There is a child of a Thai women and a Thai man, with a birth certificate stating mother is Thai women XY and Thai father is XX.

(ii) Seven years after the birth of the child, the Thai woman starts claiming there was a mistake: the Thai man is not the father but a Caucasian man is the father.

yeah and the kid plays in the sun too mutt...