Thai justice looks promising

[heybuz]

About 6 months ago i wrote that i was suing my ex who had kicked me out of the house i had paid for and got the standard reply of its a waste of time and money, well looks like no.Went to court yesterday and ex and lawyer never showed saying he was busy on another case (delaying tactics),the judge saw right through this and checked his computer and oppisition lawyer had no other cases and virtually called him a liar and threatened to jail my ex if she did not appear. He then set another date in a couple of weeks stating if there is no resulition he would rule and by his demeanor it would be in my favour. The thai court in these cases has speeded up the process and no delaying tactics will be tolerated. (Sorry for grammar)

[Rhys]

truly remarkable    trust all works out your way...

[catman20]

keep life simple, stay single

[williamgeorgeallen]

sorry but i know a few people who have been through this. only guy i know who was successful was my friend on koh panyang and that is because he had a kid with his ex and she abandoned them both. there is an almost zero chance of getting anything and a good chance you are going to blow a fair amount of money on lawyers. your best bet is to learn your lesson and move on. i dont want to upset you but we all make mistakes in life and moving on is the best way forward. i know a guy who has done the same thing a couple times. just dont end up being that guy.

[williamgeorgeallen]

47 minutes ago, catman20 said:

keep life simple, stay single

and if you cant stay single at least dont legally  marry them or buy any assets in their name. thailand is a mans world as long as you stick to these 2 rules.

[mstevens]

OP, that's really good to hear.  Best wishes for a positive outcome and please do check back in and let us know how it all goes!

[Fulwell53]

Nice thread.

It makes a pleasant change to see positive things posted by expats re thai institutions.

If one was foolish enough to take as certain some of the disgraceful and racist accusations hurled at all things thai you'd be questionning your sanity for staying in this wonderful country with its great people.

Best of luck moving forward.

Divorce is a messy dispiriting business regardless of which country you live in.

 

[GarryP]

1 hour ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

sorry but i know a few people who have been through this. only guy i know who was successful was my friend on koh panyang and that is because he had a kid with his ex and she abandoned them both. there is an almost zero chance of getting anything and a good chance you are going to blow a fair amount of money on lawyers. your best bet is to learn your lesson and move on. i dont want to upset you but we all make mistakes in life and moving on is the best way forward. i know a guy who has done the same thing a couple times. just dont end up being that guy.

Sorry but that just is not true. A number of posters have been through divorces and not been taken to the cleaners. Assets split equally, etc. Okay a few have been hit hard, but that was the lawyers rather than the court screwing them. 

[likewise]

All assets that have been bought during the marriage will be divided evenly, so many scaremongers on here, wow.

Court usually orders the sale of the assets and the sum of such sales to be divided !

Why I know, been there.

[smccolley]

Let us know how it works out - I have seen it go both ways. If you are legally married and can show the funds were acquired prior to marriage, you can get all the money back...

 

Best of luck!

[Juan B Tong]

Put thus judge on the Boss Red Bull case!

[williamgeorgeallen]

1 hour ago, GarryP said:

Sorry but that just is not true. A number of posters have been through divorces and not been taken to the cleaners. Assets split equally, etc. Okay a few have been hit hard, but that was the lawyers rather than the court screwing them. 

i swear on my life what i said is true. i do know of another guy who won the court case after spent a load of money and his ex was told to sell their house which she never did. it is still for sale with a silly asking price on it. the law is one thing but reality is another in thailand.  people here keep quoting the law on this forum but it does not work that way. especially if you get a judge who does not like westerners coming to thailand to buy property. any way good luck and i hope you let us know how it pans out. the court system is very slow. i went through it for 2 years for having the wrong address in my work permit.

[GarryP]

16 minutes ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

i swear on my life what i said is true. i do know of another guy who won the court case after spent a load of money and his ex was told to sell their house which she never did. it is still for sale with a silly asking price on it. the law is one thing but reality is another in thailand.  people here keep quoting the law on this forum but it does not work that way. especially if you get a judge who does not like westerners coming to thailand to buy property. any way good luck and i hope you let us know how it pans out. the court system is very slow. i went through it for 2 years for having the wrong address in my work permit.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I have not experienced them and in fact most of my experiences with officialdom have been straightforward and honest. Luckily for me this will never become an issue if I marry my girlfriend, as my house is already in my name.  Having said that I know personally of a few divorcees who got their share of the assets.  The family court has always seemed to be fair in the cases I know of. However, there can be no denying that some judges may be biased or even racist and that the system in general is slow.

 

[happylarry]

2 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I have not experienced them and in fact most of my experiences with officialdom have been straightforward and honest. Luckily for me this will never become an issue if I marry my girlfriend, as my house is already in my name.  Having said that I know personally of a few divorcees who got their share of the assets.  The family court has always seemed to be fair in the cases I know of. However, there can be no denying that some judges may be biased or even racist and that the system in general is slow.

 

Its not the judges, it is the lawyer who takes the easy option and does not work with your interest in mind and also people who rely on their lawyers without having an interpreter present telling them what is going on the whole time. You would not go into a court in your home country with earmuffs on stopping you hearing what is being said so why do people do that here???

[GarryP]

9 minutes ago, happylarry said:

Its not the judges, it is the lawyer who takes the easy option and does not work with your interest in mind and also people who rely on their lawyers without having an interpreter present telling them what is going on the whole time. You would not go into a court in your home country with earmuffs on stopping you hearing what is being said so why do people do that here???

Couldn't agree more. As I said in a previous post, it is the lawyers screwing things up: "Okay a few have been hit hard, but that was the lawyers rather than the court screwing them."  Perhaps, my lack of problems is due to the ability to speak Thai. 

[Krataiboy]

4 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

sorry but i know a few people who have been through this. only guy i know who was successful was my friend on koh panyang and that is because he had a kid with his ex and she abandoned them both. there is an almost zero chance of getting anything and a good chance you are going to blow a fair amount of money on lawyers. your best bet is to learn your lesson and move on. i dont want to upset you but we all make mistakes in life and moving on is the best way forward. i know a guy who has done the same thing a couple times. just dont end up being that guy.

Under Thai law, all assets acquired during a marriage (other than gifts) belong to both parties, irrespective of who paid for them.

 

If heybuz and his wife divorce (which, by the sound of it, may well be on the cards) he is legally entitled to a half share of all the aforementioned assets - including a house, which would have to be sold and the proceeds divided equally.

 

My advice would be to check with a lawyer before abandoning hope (there are lots of them on websites who offer a free initial consultation), as Thai courts tend to be more sympathetic to foreigners who have been stitched up by scheming Thai wives partners than they used to be.

[billd766]

5 hours ago, catman20 said:

keep life simple, stay single

 

Keep it simpler still.

 

Stay single and don't live in Thailand.

 

I prefer to do it the hard way though. I am married to a Thai lady and we have a 12 year old son.

 

We live in her house on her land which will go to our son when she dies and I am more thn happy for it to be that way.

[Destiny1990]

Let us know how exactly the land and house will be split.

[bazza73]

OP, have you learned your lesson and are going to stay single/not married?

I much prefer Thai law with respect to defacto relationships - not the legal dictatorship it is in Australia.

[HHTel]

6 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

sorry but i know a few people who have been through this. only guy i know who was successful was my friend on koh panyang and that is because he had a kid with his ex and she abandoned them both. there is an almost zero chance of getting anything and a good chance you are going to blow a fair amount of money on lawyers. your best bet is to learn your lesson and move on. i dont want to upset you but we all make mistakes in life and moving on is the best way forward. i know a guy who has done the same thing a couple times. just dont end up being that guy.

Oh you doom merchant.  I succeeded in court.  I know several people who have also succeeded.  In my case, it was the wife who was told to leave the house and a court order was drawn up giving me 50% of the asset value.

A close friend has just been through this in the last month.  Likewise, he is living in the house and his ex-wife was told to leave.

Done properly, I don't see any reason for the law not to be carried out.

[williamgeorgeallen]

8 minutes ago, HHTel said:

Oh you doom merchant.  I succeeded in court.  I know several people who have also succeeded.  In my case, it was the wife who was told to leave the house and a court order was drawn up giving me 50% of the asset value.

A close friend has just been through this in the last month.  Likewise, he is living in the house and his ex-wife was told to leave.

Done properly, I don't see any reason for the law not to be carried out.

well done. i am not saying it can not be done. it is just unlikely and in most cases just costs the poor westerner more money and grief. question,  if you get half the house dosent one person have to buy the other half out?

[heybuz]

i may be a bit different, i bought the house before marriage.im already divorced and it is in a civil action i am sueing her for a certain amount ,i think the key is not to be greedy.i have been barred by her in various ways of occuppying the house.

[heybuz]

2 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

well done. i am not saying it can not be done. it is just unlikely and in most cases just costs the poor westerner more money and grief. question,  if you get half the house dosent one person have to buy the other half out?

i am lucky i have a thai friend who is not short of a bob saying he will buy it

[heybuz]

lawyers were reasonable 50,000 bht. now the smell of success is in the air are asking for percentage.to be negioated?

[bangkokairportlink]

How can someone be kicked out of his own house ?!

 

Except dead I don't know how anyone could do that to me.

 

 

[heybuz]

35 minutes ago, bangkokairportlink said:

How can someone be kicked out of his own house ?!

 

Except dead I don't know how anyone could do that to me.

 

 

changing locks calling police on trivial matter all adds up and in the end it wasnt worth the hassle i moved to ahotel and it worked out cheaper than living in the house. The police gave her a bollocking for wasting their time

[swissie]

Let's see. Most major assets are aquired during marriage, mostly paid by Mr. Farang. (95% ?).

Upon divorce, he gets back 50% of his 95%.

That's what I call a deal of a lifetime.
Cheers.

[heybuz]

12 hours ago, Juan B Tong said:

Put thus judge on the Boss Red Bull case!

he only looked to me to be about 25 years old

[williamgeorgeallen]

10 hours ago, bangkokairportlink said:

How can someone be kicked out of his own house ?!

 

Except dead I don't know how anyone could do that to me.

 

 

common for foreigners to pay to build a house on their wife or girlfriends family land or buy one in their wife/girlfriends name. simple matter for her to pay the cops to come around to evict the foreigner who thinks they are living in their own house. choice is to leave without any consequence or get locked up and have to pay to get released. can pay lawyers a load of money to try to get half the house back but is a long expensive process and success is not guaranteed.

[Wake Up]

Good luck to you. I read things on TV that are not true or bad advice. A friend Expat in Khon Kaen has a Khon Kaen lawyer and the judge ruled in his favor against ex wife in house issues. Basically the ruling was the 30 year lease he had in his home in his exwifes name was enforceable and made her leave him alone to enjoy the house for the remainder of the lease. He will die before the lease is over. 

 

So the stories that all Thai courts favor Thais is simply untrue. I know of other stories where house was sold and the court gave the Expat 5 million of the sales proceeds and gave the ex wife 1 million when she left Expat for a Thai boyfriend after 8 years. 

 

These two cases does not mean others have not been screwed but they do show  you can get justice in court so good luck to you.