Divorce Question.

[techie]

Hi all.

Im posting this as a bit of guidance is needed. Would really like to hear the input and views of others.

Ok to cut a long story short i ( English man ) married a Thai lady in 2003 in Thailand. With an ILR she moved with me to the UK.

We lived together till 2006 and due to several reasons our marraige broke down.

She returned to Thailand in 2006 and i stayed in the UK.

We lost contact and for some time i had no ideas to her whereabouts..

Now moving on to 2012 i traced her with some help of some very kind people on this forum and now have address, and phone numbers etc...

After some chatting we both agreed we need to move on with life so agreed on a divorce. There are no children involved, no properties and no money issues to sort out.

I looked at the possibilities and came up with three options, that all appear to me to be legal in the UK.

1, I travel to thailand, meet her at an Amphur and we both sign to agree on the divorce.

2. I start divorce proceedings in the UK. She gets the divorce petition sent to her, signs and send back to the UK courts.

3. She goes to a Thai court, states a reason for divorce, 5 year plus abandonment. And i get sent a copy to sign and send back.

Now option one i cannot physically do.. Option two i can do but what worries me is the Thai postal service. The court here will send the petition over and going on past experiences of post to Thailand im not sure if this will be enough time for the UK court if it even turns up..has anyone had experience of this?

Now, option three i know little about. Has anyone any knowlege of this, experiences, costs, how long etc.... she is willing to sign and go any route but as you can imagine im just trying to find the smoothest way that is still legal in the UK..

Many Thanks for any replys..

[Mario2008]

Option 3 should not be too difficult, or cost too much, as both agree and both addresses are known. That last one is often what makes it troublesome, (and more costly) as several attemps must be made to contact the other party.

But there might be a fourth possibility, with you signing the divorce papers at the Thai embassy and they cerrtifying your signature and then sending them over to your wife to be processed at an amphur in Thailand. It is importnat that the amphur in Thailand will process the application and not the embassy, as the divorce at the embassy will not be recognised by the UK, only a divorce at an amphur in Thailand!!!

One member used this method to get divorced about a year or so.

[techie]

Thank you Mario2008.

I did not know this option even existed, So if i get my signature verified at the Thai Embassy in the Uk and pay them to send over with a covering note to my wife or the Amphur she is going to use hopefully this will be ok..?

I know it must be processed via the Amphur and not the Thai Embassey. Its just up until now i didnt realise i could do the signature route.

If the above isnt a goer i will ask her to divorce me at the Amphur for desertion. We have been apart for over 6 years now so cant see it being a problem and i am willing to sign to agree..

Not sure how it works really from her end, Im guessing she files for divorce for a reason. I get paperwork and send back to her. Not sure. I will investigate..

Thanks again.

[Mario2008]

At the amhur you can only divorce if both agree and sign the divorce register. So it will have to be through the court.

[Mosha]

All I can say is you are lucky she is in agreement. I was in the UK She was in Thailand. She refused to sign the papers. Took me over 3 years. My solicitor even stopped taking her fee due to lack of progress. At the end she slipped up and sent my solicitor a letter. She would grant me a divorce if I sent 5,000 UKP. Ignoring the money aspect, off to court and showed the judge the letter. The judge accepted it as willing to grant a divorce. Not finished though. 2 weeks before I got my decree absolute, a phone call from a friend. She's dead. I e-mailed the embassy who sent the police round. There she was sat on the doorstep. Then the nasty phone calls started, I ended up changing my number.