Marriage and baby

[willard]

Dear community:

I am a new member of this forum and I have a question regarding my baby. My Thai lady gave birth to a baby girl on Nov 11th and it has my last name seeing as her father took a copy of my passport to the hospital for the birth registration. I am not legally married to her as yet, but I want to. What laws if any pertain to my having a baby without getting married? What would the best type of marriage be?

She lives in a rural rice village in Central Thailand.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The child is considered illegitimate with similar connotations as you'd find in the west. A legal recognized marriage needs to be done at a District Registrar's Office. Thailand does not recognize de facto relationships or Temple weddings. Your Thai family will know where to go to do the formalities

[george]

http://www.thaivisa.com/305.0.html

This link give you the details how to register your marriage step by staep.

[cbatson]

I have just been through exactly this.  Under Thai law, children born out of wedlock do not have a legal father.  What you will have to do is hire a lawyer to help you with this.  The whole process involves this:

* Have "official" copies and translations of certain documents made.  In my case, this was (1) my passport, and (2) Consular report of birth abroad of a U.S. citizen.  You will have to make photocopies of the relevant documents, then have them certified as true copies at your embassy.  Then, these certified copies (along with the originals) will be sent to a Thai government agency for translation.  A visa service shop can probably help you with this step if you're unsure how to proceed.

* Next, the lawyer will arrange to have an official announcement made. The announcement appears at every amphur office throughout Thailand.  It states that you are petitioning to become the father of this child.  The announcement will remain posted for 30 days, giving any interested parties a chance to object.

* After this time, you will go to a government office building somewhere near the jurisdiction of the household registry on which your child is named.  You will be interviewed about the situation by a court employee, and your answers will be documented.  Kind of like having a deposition taken, I suppose.  I speak Thai well enough that I didn't have any problems, but if you don't speak Thai well you may need to have a translator accompany you.

* The lawyer will then make an appointment for you to appear in court.

* A few days before you appear in court, hopefully the lawyer will describe the process with you, and rehearse with you what will be going on in the courtroom.  The lawyer will interview you in the courtroom, with questions designed to establish to the court in what way(s) you have assumed the role and duties of the child's father.  Questions may include something like: Describe your relationship with the child's mother.  Where do you live together?  How long have you been together?  Describe how you performed your duties as a father (i.e., took the mother to the hospital, registered the birth under my name, paid all medical and living expenses, etc.).  The lawyer should also have prepared a written declaration of consent for the child's mother to sign.

* At the court, I went with the lawyer, my child, the child's mother, and an extra person to help watch my child.  If your Thai isn't fluent or very near, you will definitely also need a translator for the courtroom.  After the judge appears, you'll need to be sworn in.  They have oaths for Buddhist, Muslim, and Christian religions, but they're all written in Thai.  Your lawyer will then interview you as you (preferrably) rehearsed a few days earlier.  (Note, only speak when no one else is speaking!)  The judge will likely ask you some questions as well.  Then the child's mother will be interviewed.  The court may ask to see the child.  After it's all over, an employee will type up transcripts that summarize the statements made in the courtroom.  If you can't read Thai, have your child's mother or the lawyer review them for accuracy before signing them.  Then you will have to wait a week or so for the court's decision.

Generally there shouldn't be a problem, as most Thai judges will prefer that the child have a father to having no father.

From start to finish, the whole process was under 5 months.

Total cost for this, in my situation:

* Lawyer = 6,000 baht.

* Certification of copied documents (2) at embassy = 2,150 baht.

* Translation of documents (2) = 1,800 baht.

* Some misc. court fee = 500 baht.

* Documentation fee at courthouse = 200 baht.

Total = 10,650 baht.

I have heard that according to the law, it is possible to avoid this whole courtroom process by having the mother accompany you to the amphur office at the time of household registry recording and give her official consent that you are the father -- however, most amphur officials do not understand this aspect of the law.  If someone wanted to try this way, I would highly recommend having a lawyer accompany you to the amphur office with a law book.  In my case, it was too late for this because the household registry recording took place before I was aware that I was not the legal father of my child.

Chuck