Wanted! Info About Divorce?

[monsieurhappy]

Hi, can anyone help with some info? Please, no jokes, don't have time to read them.

I have tried the Search facility, to no avail. A lot of info there, but nothing that matches exactly my needs.

My frend was married to a Thai lady in the UK about 10 years ago and now want to divorce. He called the UK embassy who told him he would get the info from www.lawsociety.org.uk. I have looked at this site but it looks like general info for divorce in UK. Both my friend and his estranged wife live in LOS so we are looking for info regarding getting a divorce without travelling back to UK.

Can they divorce here using Thai lawyers?

What is the best way to proceed?

Any help would be gratefully recieved! I am Googling for info while I await any replies. Thanks.

[GuestHouse]

Your friend AND his wife need to take legal advice in the UK. (You haven’t stated England/Wales/Northern Ireland or Scotland), so sticking to UK.

It is my understanding, and I am not a lawyer, that the court in the UK will need to ratify any divorce overseas and that when the UK court does this it checks to ensure that the divorce and the divorce settlement meets the laws under which the UK Court is acting (Scotland has separate laws to the rest of the UK in this respect).

The main issue is that the UK court will maintain control over assets and contracts within the UK, so if there is property held in the UK, pensions or savings and these have not been dealt with to the satisfaction of the UK court, it can and may make a ruling with respect to the divorce settlement.

For the court to make this ruling it needs only decide it has jurisdiction over some part of the marriage and assets, it then may act to ensure the separation of assets meets UK law.

(Incidentally, the UK court can make this ruling regardless of where the marriage took place and regardless of any other national court ruling.

Example: You establish a prenuptial marry agreement before marrying in Thailand and then marry in Thailand but you own property and wealth in England. If you later divorce in Thailand and seek ratification of the divorce in England then an English court would almost certainly disregard the prenuptial agreement (with respect to assets/wealth inthe UK), since it has no legal status in the UK and wealth and property in England remain under English/UK law.

If there are children involved the UK court will almost certainly want to check the provisions for children and again may make an adjustment with respect to wealth/income within the UK.

Edited February 10, 2006 by GuestHouse

[valleyboy]

Yeah you can.

Get yourself a good lawyer and you can process the divorce over here in Thai courts, process the divorce agreement at the local district office and then request a translation certified by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That translated, certified document must then be presented to the British Home Office, via a lawyer preferably, and the marriage will be dissolved back in the UK.

The court appearance will generally be in the birth or residing province of your spouse unless you have some legal validation in Thailand. You'll then depending on the location have to wait around 1 to 3 months for the day and as long as your settlement is agreed on by both parties and previously signed by both parties it should be ambly processed by them (outside of BKK) in a couple of days. BKK courts are preferable if you can sway it.

Good Luck

[phibunmike]

Hi, can anyone help with some info? Please, no jokes, don't have time to read them.

I have tried the Search facility, to no avail. A lot of info there, but nothing that matches exactly my needs.

My frend was married to a Thai lady in the UK about 10 years ago and now want to divorce. He called the UK embassy who told him he would get the info from www.lawsociety.org.uk. I have looked at this site but it looks like general info for divorce in UK. Both my friend and his estranged wife live in LOS so we are looking for info regarding getting a divorce without travelling back to UK.

Can they divorce here using Thai lawyers?

What is the best way to proceed?

Any help would be gratefully recieved! I am Googling for info while I await any replies. Thanks.

My understanding is that the UK now plays no part at all in the divorce as both parties live in LOS. I HAD to have my divorce in the country of residence (both parties lived outside UK). So as both live in LOS, divorce HAS to be in LOS by LOS law following LOS rules (about separation, grounds, etc.) It is no longer a UK matter.