How can I protect my assets

[sead]

my understanding is that the legal stipulations states that assets acquired during marriage should be split 50/50

Yes you are right but in this scenario she is agreeing to allow me to sell the house and property and keep the money because she has been caught stealing and says she is willing to do the amicable thing. But I will need time to sell the property before I agree to the final uncontested divorce and then end the marriage and my visa too

JAF

This is the time when you start recording all your discussions. Where she admits or says sorry i steal. And don't tell her about it. If she later refuses you give a copy to your lawyer. Copy not original

[bazza40]

my understanding is that the legal stipulations states that assets acquired during marriage should be split 50/50

Yes you are right but in this scenario she is agreeing to allow me to sell the house and property and keep the money because she has been caught stealing and says she is willing to do the amicable thing. But I will need time to sell the property before I agree to the final uncontested divorce and then end the marriage and my visa too

JAF

She's been stealing from you, and you believe a single word she says now? Get everything in writing. Otherwise you may not even get a 50:50 split.

Suggest you need a really good lawyer.

Hindsight I know; however, this is the reason I keep 90% of my assets outside Thailand.

[georgemandm]

No sympathy , seen it so many times before. Why put someone in control of your future.

Ok I understand you , yes no sympathy, but and I say but some man back 15 years ago did not know much about thailand and thai women.

Ok you can say that now if it was 1 year ago because there is a lot on the Internet now about the way thai women try and suck man in , but this man did no 15 years ago it would turn out like it has .

[ozyjon]

JustAnotherFarang (who bought into the dream and then awoke to the nightmare)

what a great title for a book

[ttthailand]

Let's see, house is 59/50, the assets that are in other family names you just forget about (maybe you shouldn't) , but who keeps the business ?

[StaffsShot]

Good luck in your upcoming negotiations JAF. I would have thought a lawyer would be an absolute necessity, but someone says not to, as the lawyer will rip you off too. Jeez.

From what it sounds like she's done to you, she doesn't even deserve 50/50 let alone what you've already agreed, but alas this is Thailand.

I hope under Thai law you can get a lot back

[Mudcrab]

Read on another thread somewhere a while ago that land etc is not subject to the 50/50 split as such. Something to do with signing the paper saying it is the woman's money buying the land etc and it would not be part of any asset split - something along those lines.

Which surprised me as I had been under the impression that all assets (and don't forget debts!!) acquired during marriage were included.

Basically from what I can see there are no assets to split unless there are vehicles, furniture and what have you involved.

[happylarry]

Read on another thread somewhere a while ago that land etc is not subject to the 50/50 split as such. Something to do with signing the paper saying it is the woman's money buying the land etc and it would not be part of any asset split - something along those lines.

Which surprised me as I had been under the impression that all assets (and don't forget debts!!) acquired during marriage were included.

Basically from what I can see there are no assets to split unless there are vehicles, furniture and what have you involved.

The courts are a different department to the land office, believe it or not, and land is included in assets acquired within marriage. Obviously a farang cant take over the land but the court will order it to be sold and the proceeds split accordingly, when and if its sold.

Diversifying slightly if a wife dies and leaves land to her husband he becomes the legal owner but has one year to sell or register it in a Thai name. Because the land office decided to add one sentence to their title deeds about farangs, this does not negate all the other laws in the land.

HL

[blackcab]

Read on another thread somewhere a while ago that land etc is not subject to the 50/50 split as such. Something to do with signing the paper saying it is the woman's money buying the land etc and it would not be part of any asset split - something along those lines.

Which surprised me as I had been under the impression that all assets (and don't forget debts!!) acquired during marriage were included.

Basically from what I can see there are no assets to split unless there are vehicles, furniture and what have you involved.

The courts are a different department to the land office, believe it or not, and land is included in assets acquired within marriage. Obviously a farang cant take over the land but the court will order it to be sold and the proceeds split accordingly, when and if its sold.

Diversifying slightly if a wife dies and leaves land to her husband he becomes the legal owner but has one year to sell or register it in a Thai name. Because the land office decided to add one sentence to their title deeds about farangs, this does not negate all the other laws in the land.

HL

Exactly.

[Gary A]

Anything you get will be out of the goodness of HER heart. When it comes to money, there is likely very little goodness in her heart. The law says there will be a 50/50 split but keep i mind that a civil court ruling has no enforcement power. I knew a guy who was awarded 50 percent. He eventually ran out of money paying lawyers to try to collect and ended up with nothing.

[offset]

I think you may well be right about the lawyer but I don't know how they can help me right now without antagonising the situation at the moment regarding my visa. I am legally allowed to stay in the country until the end of July and thats when I would go and do a marriage renewal which I think she would agree too as I have done nothing wrong to her other than show my anger and disapproval of her behaviour. At the moment she is staying with her family in BKK and in Hua Hin where I have found out that she is in the process of forming a new relationship with an old guy with money.

I know that the properties in BKK are in her families name and the land in Nonthaburi is in her sisters name. I have agreed that she can have them as I have no reasl legal right to claim them. The land that I bought and the house that I built and live in definately in her name even though I had insisted that it was put into my name. I now have the chanote and house book safely hidden away. All of this only came to light over the last 6 months and it drove a massive wedge between us as I realised just how dishonest and untrustworthy she really was.

The money that she took from me was a small amount from my personal account. I was hospitalised with cellulitis and she needed to withdraw funds to pay my hospital bill. 6 months later and she took my atm card and withdrew 20,000 bht without my permission or acknowledgement. I only realised she had done this when I saw my statement the following month.

Sorry if my responses seems a little muddled and confusing, its just that my mind is all over the place at the moment struggling to work out what is best for me to do.

JAF

PS With regards to a retirement visa, I am 48 in July so I cannot apply for that right now. But I notice someone mentioned getting a year multi entry in Savannakhet. How easy is that to do and what provisions would I need to ensure I receive it

You cannot own the land but you can own the house that you built if you can prove that you paid for it, if you can get legal rights to the house it will make it impossible for her to sell without you knowing about it

Do not think that you are safe because you have the chanote because a your wife can go to the police and either report the chanote to be lost then go to the land office and get a new one (I have had experience of this happening) or ask them to got and get it off you because you have no legal right to keep them from your wife

[offset]

Read on another thread somewhere a while ago that land etc is not subject to the 50/50 split as such. Something to do with signing the paper saying it is the woman's money buying the land etc and it would not be part of any asset split - something along those lines.

Which surprised me as I had been under the impression that all assets (and don't forget debts!!) acquired during marriage were included.

Basically from what I can see there are no assets to split unless there are vehicles, furniture and what have you involved.

It has been said on this site many times in the past that the paper you mentioned has no legal standings in the eyes of the legal system

[bwpage3]

What do you think the "old guy with money" is advising her to do?

Be careful in any dealings.