Who is my son's legal custodian?

[wangsuda]

My son's mother and I were not married when our son was born. When he was born, I had no clue about doing any paperwork at an amphor office or anything. All I saw was that my name was listed on the birth certificate, as well as his mother's name. Cool.

Five years later, my son's mother dies. I have the death certificate and everything. When it came to registering my son in school, I had no problems. When my son turned seven, I got him his Thai ID card. Again, no problems.

HOWEVER, from all that I have read on this forum, since I have not filed any official paperwork to legitimize me as my son's father, I am not legally his father. So this begs the question, who is legally the father of my son? And more importantly, who is legally my son's custodian? If the legal custodians are people/someone on his mother's side of the family, how would I even find these people? I have no idea what their addresses or phone numbers are (please no flaming on that one).

Thanks in advance for serious replies.

[Mario2008]

Probably nobody would be the legal guardian of the child right now, if there is one (which I doubt) it will be a family member of your wife. In most cases people will go by the birth certificate, but for some formal things as filling for a passport that will not do.

The amphur will probably have a record of who is listed as the legal guardian, if there is any.

If the child is older than 7 years you can try to become the legal father by just turning up art the amphur together. It is required that also the mother turns up, but I do not now how they will handle that when the mother is deceased. At worst they will say "no" (which I suspect) and you will have to go to court, which takes a few months and some money.

[wangsuda]

but for some formal things as filling for a passport that will not do.

And this is the weird part. I can get a Thai ID card for my son, but not a passport. Go figure.

If the child is older than 7 years you can try to become the legal father by just turning up art the amphur together.

Did that to get the ID card. Everything worked out okay.

This whole thing is confusing the heck out of me.

you will have to go to court, which takes a few months and some money.

So not looking forward to this, if it comes to it.

Thanks for your reply.

[PoorSucker]

Was the mother married to another man?

In this case he would be the legal father.

In who's house book (Thabien Bahn) is he registered?

[wangsuda]

In who's house book (Thabien Bahn) is he registered?

Maternal grandmother, I believe.

Was the mother married to another man?

Not as far as I know, and we were together for almost 10 years

[recycler]

If you where not married at the time of birth you will have to go trough the family court to get legal custody, without this you will not be able to get him a passport. And in by law probably the first in line of his mothers family could be the legal guardian if there needs to be one.

They may even require a DNA test to prove you are really the father.

Proof of you taking care of the kid all his life is helpful possible also supported with statements from Thai people in your circles or the school and or teachers may support your case.

It takes time and I would advise you to take a good lawyer specialized in family law.

[Boo]

How old is your son now?

Usually when they are older & you can prove you have been looking after him his whole life & with dna evidence you are the biological parent, the court process is pretty straightforward.

Good luck.

[Sena Dave]

If your name is on the birth cert then I would say it would be you. The marriage or lack of it may only come to be a pain in the arse if you try to get him a Brit passport

[Boo]

That is incorrect. Legally, under Thai law, he is not considered the legal guardian. A name on a birth certificate means very little. If anything happened to the OP his son would go to the late gf's next of kin, her parents or a sibling. The op has no legal right to say who looks after his child & in fact has few rights himself in the matter. He is lucky in so far he has not needed to show proof to anyone. As his son gets older though it may start to become an issue & for the sake of covering all bases it is worth having going to court & having the proper documentation put in place.

[Sena Dave]

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That is incorrect. Legally, under Thai law, he is not considered the legal guardian. A name on a birth certificate means very little. If anything happened to the OP his son would go to the late gf's next of kin, her parents or a sibling. The op has no legal right to say who looks after his child & in fact has few rights himself in the matter. He is lucky in so far he has not needed to show proof to anyone. As his son gets older though it may start to become an issue & for the sake of covering all bases it is worth having going to court & having the proper documentation put in place.

I had sole Physical custody of my Kids from 2005 , at which time they were registered for school and aquired their ID cards , in 2011 I gained Full sole legal custody of them

[wangsuda]

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That is incorrect. Legally, under Thai law, he is not considered the legal guardian. A name on a birth certificate means very little. If anything happened to the OP his son would go to the late gf's next of kin, her parents or a sibling. The op has no legal right to say who looks after his child & in fact has few rights himself in the matter. He is lucky in so far he has not needed to show proof to anyone. As his son gets older though it may start to become an issue & for the sake of covering all bases it is worth having going to court & having the proper documentation put in place.

I had sole Physical custody of my Kids from 2005 , at which time they were registered for school and aquired their ID cards , in 2011 I gained Full sole legal custody of them

For the last 3.5 years, I have:

1. Registered my son in a new school when we moved
2. Helped my son obtain his Thai ID card

In both cases, all I had with me was his birth certificate, his mother's death certificate, my passport, my work permit, and my TCT license (not needed, but shown for good measure). I have never had a problem. I would think that, because of the Thai ID card, the amphor already recognizes me as his legal father. Or can anyone assist any Thai child in obtaining an ID?

[Sena Dave]

My guess would be and its only a "Guess" through past experience is , You'll be ok as long as you are not legally challenged for their sole custody or even partial custody. I know how these thing can play in your mind , I had many sleepless nights about it when I first had my kids on my own. With kids in Thailand possession is 9/10s of the law. Basically if there is no legal agreement and one parent pisses off with the kids , the other can do nothing much about it. make sure they don't miss school unless they need to , keep doing what you are doing and If a challenge came in you can prove that you are looking after them properly. Sounds barbaric but they actually ask the kids at the juvenille centre who they want to stay with

Good luck mate , dont fret too much about it

[wangsuda]

Good luck mate , dont fret too much about it

Thanks!