Selling condo advisable?

[pepi2005]

I'm happily married, but am too old and wise to take for granted that it will last forever. I certainly hope it would though! So I would like to ask something in order to avoid stupid mistakes:

 

If I'm correct, in case of a divorce, Thai law requires both partners to share the resources they have accumulated since marriage. Guess a condominium would definitely fall into that category.

My questions are:

a. which date is relevant, the date of the contract signed or the date of transfer? (because I signed the purchase contract for mine before marriage)

b. if it's the date of signing the contract: would I shoot myself in the foot (potentially! ;-)) if I sell the condo before transfer, because then the money I would sell it for  would have been formally been "made" during marriage?

 

thanks for any insights on this...

[blackcab]

It's the date on the Chanote... However, if you can absolutely prove the condo was solely purchased with money you had before the marriage, if you divorce you can claim 100 per cent of the property for yourself.

 

Proof would be copies of: Foreign bank statements covering the period of time in question, sales contract; transfer of funds into the Kingdom; Foreign Exchange Transfer Form; cashiers cheque; chanote.

 

Put the condo in your name only.

 

Civil and Commercial Code, Section 1472:

 

As regards to Sin Suan Tua (personal property), if it has been exchanged to other property, other property has been bought or money has been acquired from selling it, such other property or money acquired shall be Sin Suan Tua. Where the Sin Suan Tua has been totally or partly destroyed but replaced by other property or the money, such other property shall be Sin Suan Tua.

[pepi2005]

aargh ... now I have 2 different opinions, exactly what I was worrying about!

One response I got so far is that the time of me signing the purchase contract is relevant.

You're saying it's the date on the Chinote.

My own understanding would be: as I had to sign in full responsibility of being able to pay the installments, the date of the purchase contract should be relevant, even if there are several installments after that (I married about halfway through duration of construction). It would be great if anyone could shed more light on this, because this is exactly what I was worrying about.

 

Regarding the excerpt from Section 1472 you quoted, I understand it the way that if I'd resell now, the money I get would have to be splitted, is that correct?

 

cheers and thanks for the feedback so far,

P

[williamgeorgeallen]

seems to be a tricky one and i am not going to give you any advise other than to say you are best to sell up telling your girl you want to buy a bigger more expensive condo. then just rent saying you are looking to find something nice. get your funds out of thailand if possible. next time just rent your condo and girl. will make moving on easier. be warned it is a hard market to sell now.

[blackcab]

The result is the same whether it's the contract or the chanote.

 

The way I view it is that if you get divorced in the future, the chances are you will be discussing the chanote because the contract will have been extinguished by virtue of you receiving the real property.

 

As stated, if your personal money was used to pay the terms of the contract, and then in performance of the contract you received the real property then your sin suan tua has been replaced by other property... If you can prove it.

 

Positive proof is required. Without it the presumption is the asset would be sin somros.

 

In layman's terms, Section 1472 says that:

 

If you have money before marriage, and

 

You get married, and

 

The money you had before marriage is used to buy something, and

 

You can prove this, then

 

What you purchased after marriage remains 100% yours.

 

The difficulty is proving it. Most people don't keep proper records.

[pepi2005]

That makes sense .... I understand.

 

Thanks for clarifying!

[jadee]

Perhaps someone can explain, what do Thai judges do if the case of divorce regarding a condo. Do they allow one person to stay and the other to move out? Or both to move out? Do they order you to sell up? What if you can't find a buyer? Do they force you to sell for a certain price? 

[happylarry]

i would think that one of them would have already moved out by the time it gets before a judge....lol

And I would think (but don't know) that the person in whose name the condo is registered would be the one to stay.

If the property is part of the settlement and cannot be settled in a given time then the court can insist the property is put up for auction. This is almost unheard of, because the court normally tries to negotiate a suitable outcome, but it can be done regardless.

HL

[Deepinthailand]

You way your happily married then why are you already starting to unravel the happiness.