Divorce

[sierra01]

I'm not sure where to put this but still!

My wife's sister's boyfriend is married but not living with his wife, and she won't agree to a divorce. In the UK you can apply for a divorce on the grounds of living apart for 2? years, is there any such law here?

My wife's sister is pregnant, and it's causing all manner of problems and arguments, parents don't want them living together unmarried etc.

[astral]

The simple way is for both parties to go to the Amphur office and sign

to say they want a divorce.

Anything else you had better consult a lawyer.

There are other ways.

[sierra01]

She's refusing to accept the divorce, so the lawyer route seems the only way. That'll please him, he's a poor Issan farmer! Thanks Astral.

[Godders]

Some good news and some bad news.

Under Thai law, either spouse can apply to a court for a divorce if they can show they have lived apart for three years or more. It is one of the listed legal grounds for divorce in this country. That's the good news.

The bad news (for your sister in law's boyfriend, at least) is that Thai divorce courts still operate on the "guility party" concept when deciding on dividing up the spoils of a broken marriage.

One suspects that walking out on your wife and giving your mea noi a baby is not the kind of behaviour likely to win brownie points from divorce court judges.

As an earlier correspondent suggests, a better plan in this instance would be to persuade the "wronged" wife to accept a legal, out of court settlement, which would speed up the issue of a divorce certificate from the Register Office where the marriage was registered. The process normally takes a few hours at the most, assuming all the required documentation is present and correct.