Husbands Rights Thailand

[udondreamer]

my gf got a phone call yesterday, i knew it had upset her,when i asked what it was about she replied her husband aparently they are not divorced,

is demanding either land or her house he is thai and they have been apart for three years although the house was given to her by her parents,he feels he is intitled to something?

i said i don't think this is a problem,but does anyone know the legal position?

cheers

[mouse]

I hate to say it but just look at the name you use on this board........

[dsfbrit]

I was advised the following by a lawyer before I got married to a Thai girl.

As the husband is a Thai there may be some subtle differences, as he would be able to own land.

On divorce:

1. Everything I had before the marriage was mine and would not be shared.

2. Everything I (we) acquired during the marriage would be split 50/50.

3. I may/would have to pay maintenence.

2 above included any inheritance I (we) would receive.

I had a pre-nup drawn up that meant only assets in Thailand would be split 50/50 and this did not include assets outside the country.

So I would suspsect it would depend when she inherited the house - before she married or during?

Then there is the can of worms relating to whether he improved the asset whilst they were together.

I am no expert, so dont take too much notice of what I say, this is purely a personal experience.

good luck.

Edited January 4, 2007 by dsfbrit

[loong]

This is a big question and probably best that she consult a Lawyer.

I have never heard of a man getting a pay out from his wife or ex wife, but have no idea what the actual legal angle is.

I suspect that the husband has heard that she has a rich Farang bf and is looking to cash in. Otherwise why wait till now!

Did they have children together? If so has he been paying maintenance? (doubtful).

Also, when property is passed from parent to child while parent still living, the transfer is often not registered. So it is quite possible that the property is still registered to the parent. If so husband could not have any possible claim against the in-laws.

If I were you, I would not pay a Baht and tell him to take it to court ( after getting the proper legal advice yourself.) If he has no money, he probably can not afford the lengthy expensive process.

Good luck

[MaiChai]

Well you need to speak to a lawyer, but in general things are split 50/50 when divorcing in Thailand. However, there are lots of legal twists and turns that your or their lawyer can take and the legal system is not strong in Thailand, so you never really know how its going to turn out. The only thing is that it may take a long time to sort out since all the legal stuff can take ages going back and forth. Thai legal system is slow.

If the husband can prove that his wife has no real income and he paid for everything, then he may be able to persuade the judge that 100% of everything belongs to him. TiT. You never know how its going to pan out!

[Casanundra]

my gf got a phone call yesterday...

There you go, she's your g/f, she may still be married and therefore has a husband in the wings and as such you now know where you stand.

My suggestion would be to take a step back, do the monty python sketch and ask all those without husbands to step forward whilst telling your g/f to stand right where she is and to not move.

Once you have made it clear that she cannot step forward or move and as such that you and she are not going anywhere until she sorts out "her" history then you can simply adopt a long pockets short arms strategy and just be an outside objective observer looking in.

I had a similar issue with a Polish girl once and after establishing the reason that she failed to divorce her husband in the wings was because she had not bothered to do the paperwork or even wanted to do it, so I picked myself up off the seat and walked out. Simple, over, end of story. Period.

Basically just keep out of it and make that notion fundamentally clear to the g/f until the hot wind has blown over on her past and that way you can come out of it unscathed.

Edited January 4, 2007 by Casanundra

[lingling]

Add to it that if she is still legally married, her husband can potentially sue you for "taking his wife away". Yes, there is a funny law like that...

[Far Angst]

'

Why don't you - do I dare to suggest the novelty - offer the cuckold some money in compensation.

I know this is never done here, but you might be the first to pay off a husband in the wings.

Please do let us know how it went.

,

Edited January 4, 2007 by Far Angst

[f14pilot61]

Add to it that if she is still legally married, her husband can potentially sue you for "taking his wife away". Yes, there is a funny law like that...

I would be interested to know this law as I'm a Falang husband of a Thai wife that was cheating on me and had a child with a Thai boyfriend and my wife said it was mine and it is not.

[steveromagnino]

Add to it that if she is still legally married, her husband can potentially sue you for "taking his wife away". Yes, there is a funny law like that...

I would be interested to know this law as I'm a Falang husband of a Thai wife that was cheating on me and had a child with a Thai boyfriend and my wife said it was mine and it is not.

ok, if you wish to get a divorce, you will have to show why, in order to actually get a divorce at all if one party does not wish to divorce; I think there are a number of ways to prove that a divorce is required, infidelity is one. Also, that may influence any pay out. I thihk it has to be proven to a judge in the case of infedelity and must be shown within a year of filing or learning of the offence.

If you have evidence and paternity test, then you can get a divorce, and influence the settlement; a colleague just went through this exact scenario and it was settled very very favourably to him (and he is a farang). Anyone who says the court system is tilted and you will never win is either stupid, ignorant or cannot afford a lawyer.

As to the original poster, this will work in the opposite situation. The husband can justifiably ask for compensation as his wife is engaging in adultery while still married to him. He is of course likely to be entitled to everything brought into the marriage including gifts and whatever you have given the woman, unless they were clearly documented to be a loan and therefore not marital assets. If he was well represented, he could probably acheive a similar result to the farang guy i know, who claimed he had provided the family home, money to raise the kids and whatever, and as a result was able to maintain ownership of almost 100% of the marital assets despite the usual 50% split. In this case, if the man has not brought in most of the income on paper (and bear in mind that many of the types of Thai people who end up in these sorts of situations may not have the papertrail my friend did) then he may not get as much, but still I would be surprised if he did not have some claim on the house and land, as after all, they are married.

I would consider very carefully your position, as you are the one causing the problem. You should insist the woman divorce, and be prepared to open your wallet (or hers) as she is the one at fault here, not the husband, from what you have presented.

If she has prior evidence of infidelity, abuse etc, then the first question I would raise is....well why didn't you divorce him>? Therefore...if she has any evidence, she should use it first; first mover advantage always will look better; as it is now, she may simply easily be able to settle anyway; her fault, her problem.

[Casanundra]

Add to it that if she is still legally married, her husband can potentially sue you for "taking his wife away". Yes, there is a funny law like that...

I would be interested to know this law as I'm a Falang husband of a Thai wife that was cheating on me and had a child with a Thai boyfriend and my wife said it was mine and it is not.

Yes this is the current law and a husband can sue the other man for damages. What I find the most interesting about this particular law is that it only applies if the woman cheats. If the man cheats, the woman cannot do the same in reverse.

It's a man's world is Thailand.

[steveromagnino]

Add to it that if she is still legally married, her husband can potentially sue you for "taking his wife away". Yes, there is a funny law like that...

I would be interested to know this law as I'm a Falang husband of a Thai wife that was cheating on me and had a child with a Thai boyfriend and my wife said it was mine and it is not.

Yes this is the current law and a husband can sue the other man for damages. What I find the most interesting about this particular law is that it only applies if the woman cheats. If the man cheats, the woman cannot do the same in reverse.

It's a man's world is Thailand.

Not strictly true; while letter of the law may be this way, I know of a woman (a socialite non Thai) who sued her philandering husband and the other woman for damages and now lives in a large mansion with a fleet of luxury cars as a result.

As far as I know, you are correct in the letter of the law though.

[thaigene2]

This is pretty simple to me anyway..

She only a 'gf' so you have nothing to worry about yourself. However this may be a psyche-out set-up...You need to judge for yourself. If she tells you that she's going to lose the house if she doesn't pay him off then that's a loud alarm my friend to run for the hills. She gets you to pay - then she dumps you and back to Khun Sompong to ghin khao at ahan talay and some sanook-y to follow in a nice hotel.

On the other hand, if the house was given to her by her parents and they OWNED the land, then maybe THEY could take it back? Who's name is it registered in? The land is the issue - not the house - unless he has a usufruct (check the other threads for info on these) which he almost certainly does not.

In my case, my wife's ex was not legally married to her. But he paid for the house to be built on her family's land. If doesn't have a lease of usufruct he has nothing to claim - except unfairness. He asked for the motorbike once - she said get lost (I said she should give it to him - she told me to get lost too).

[f14pilot61]

Add to it that if she is still legally married, her husband can potentially sue you for "taking his wife away". Yes, there is a funny law like that...

I would be interested to know this law as I'm a Falang husband of a Thai wife that was cheating on me and had a child with a Thai boyfriend and my wife said it was mine and it is not.

Yes this is the current law and a husband can sue the other man for damages. What I find the most interesting about this particular law is that it only applies if the woman cheats. If the man cheats, the woman cannot do the same in reverse.

It's a man's world is Thailand.

What if the other man who is cheating with the married woman who has no money and no job? Taking him to court is not going to solve or change anything.

There is a lot more to my case than you all are aware and I'm going to file a criminal lawsuit to put her in jail as she is one BAD, BAD girl living near the factories in Wangnoi with her current boyfriend in my house that I built for her and her family who are EVIL people and are selling and using drugs as well as my wife prostituting herself out to the whole village including the local police (near Ayutthaya).

It's a real mess and I am having to suffer the enormous debt that I took on to take care of her and her drug addiction.

I would be interested to know if anyone knows about the Local Thai newspaper getting my story and publishing it.

Edited March 12, 2007 by f14pilot61

[quiksilva]

Err I can see how you would be angry about that but be very, very careful, life is cheap here.

In your situation I'd forget the newspaper story and criminal lawsuit, I'd cut my losses, get out of there and never look back.

It might not be honourable or brave but you might live longer!

[lannarebirth]

If your girlfriend has been seperated from her husband for three years, she can file non-contested for divorce. The law is one year of "abandonment/non support " I believe. As for marital assets, if he can prove he contributed to the puchase of her properties while married, he may have a claim for partial valuation.

edit: In any case I'd suggest you let her sort it out.

Edited March 12, 2007 by lannarebirth

[Arkady]

A lawyer could advise better but it certainly depends on whether she acquired the house before marriage or not. Even if after marriage I believe that her family would have been entitled to make it a condition of the gift that it would not be part of the common marital property. This could perhaps be done retrospectively. But anyway keep your distance from this case. It is a dangerous situation. You can be sued for taking a man's wife away in Thailand under their weird archaic laws. You can also be squeezed for money by the husband or even murdered. Many Thai men think get jealous of wives they have dumped when they find they found some one else. To put it bluntly there are loads of nice Thai girls around without having to pick up Thai men's left overs. If you only found out later she is still married, I would consider this a big problem of honesty and who knows what other nasty surprises are in store. It might be better to plan a quiet exit.