Getting married in Thailand: Overview

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Getting married in Thailand: Overview 
Bangkok Post: 30 Aug 2009
www.BangkokPost.com

FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND The marriage ceremony: Part I

Writer: James Finch and Nilobon Tangprasit


Marriage - the human institution for which the darkest moments call for a lawyer, not a doctor or undertaker. This time we're going to start peeling back the cultural and statutory skins surrounding your legal rights and those of your spouse in Thailand.

There are a couple of threshold issues to start with. The only ways to be considered legally married in Thailand are:

- To be married at a civil ceremony in Thailand, which we will explain below, or

- To be legally married elsewhere and get this recognised by the Thai authorities, which we'll also explain at a later date.

Most people who get married in Thailand are married in separate religious and civil ceremonies. Many, however, are married only in religious ceremonies. In the eyes of Thai law, this latter group are not married. Thus if they split up, they don't need to be divorced for the purposes of the legal system. Property acquired during the relationship may be considered as owned in common. We will cover this and any possible child support obligations in a later column.

Also, the Thai law provides for a betrothal procedure and creates rights and duties in connection with it. This is traditional in Thailand. It is also optional and can be ignored.

How do you get married at one of these civil ceremonies?

These rules, by the way, apply whether you as a foreigner are marrying a Thai citizen or another foreigner.

To begin with, you and your intended must go to the government office that presides over marriage ceremonies. In Bangkok that would be the district office, of which there are 50 throughout the city. Outside of Bangkok this would be the office of the amphur. Sometimes the amphur is called the "sheriff".

Each of you must bring two witnesses and anyone who is does not speak Thai must have someone to translate. One of the witnesses can be the translator, as there is no official licensing requirement for this. Also, officers at the district office or amphur often act as witnesses. You don't need an appointment, but your may have to wait unless you do.

Here are the documents you'll have to have with you:

- Original and signed copy of the Thai identification of a Thai party and original and signed copy of the passport for foreigners. The original will be returned immediately. The office keeps the copies;

- The blue book (house registration) of the Thai party;

- Certificate from foreigner's embassy. (see below);

- Divorce papers, if applicable, certified by the foreigner's embassy;

- Letter of consent from parent or guardian if one of these is not present and if one of the parties is unemancipated and under the age of 20;

- If one of the parties has previously changed his or her name, a certificate to this effect;

- Original and copies of the birth certificate and blue book of any minor children of the couple born previous to the marriage.

The embassy certificate is a statement signed by the foreigner and notarised by his or her embassy's consular authorities that gives the following information:

- Identification;

- Occupation and monthly income;

- Marital status;

- Whether the foreigner is supporting dependents;

- An assertion that the foreigner is qualified and eligible to marry a Thai citizen and register the marriage under Thai law, and;

- A reference in the home country.

The certificate must have been notarised by the embassy, translated and the translation certified by the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Chang Wattana Road in Bangkok. Again, there is no licensing requirement for the translator, so any competent translator can do this.

If all of the above documents are in order, the registrar at the district office or amphur will accept the marriage and enter it into the office's official record. And there is no official fee for this ceremony.

James Finch of Chavalit Finch and Partners (finch@chavalitfinchlaw.com) and Nilobon Tangprasit of Siam City Law Offices Ltd (nilobon@siamcitylaw.com)

For more information visit http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com.

Comments? Questions? Contact us at the email addresses above.

[Admin]

Getting married in Thailand: Overview 
Bangkok Post: 6 Sep 2009
www.BangkokPost.com

Expat Counsel FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND

Part II: Getting married in a Royal Thai Embassy or consulate outside Thailand

Writer: By James Finch and Nilobon Tangprasit

There are several reasons you may need to prove to the Thai authorities that you are married. Among them:

- Obtaining non immigrant visa extensions for the non-Thai spouse of a Thai citizen or permanent resident;

- legitimisation of children, both with respect to marriages in Thailand and to those legally celebrated in foreign countries, which give rise to automatic legitimatisation of children born of such marriages;

- adoption of a Thai child, which requires consent of the adopting parents spouse;

- receiving a special share of the marital assets in both divorce and division of assets after death (to be discussed in a later column);

- receiving alimony and separate maintenance by a spouse (also to be discussed in a later column).

To prove the existence of the marriage, the district office or amphur that registered a marriage within Thailand will issue a document in Thai known as the registration of family status, or Khor Ror 22. This can be used as proof of the marriage for all of the above purposes. One of these will be issued at the time the wedding is celebrated and either of the parties can get another copy at a later date.

For some of the above purposes, for visa extensions, for example, a copy of a foreign marriage certificate, certified by the embassy in Thailand of the country in which the marriage was celebrated, will be adequate. Finally, if at least one partner is Thai and the parties were married at a Royal Thai Embassy or consulate as discussed below, the documents issued by the embassy or consulate will also be acceptable.

How do you prove in Thailand that you as a foreigner were married to a Thai citizen, but outside of Thailand?

One option is that you can go to a diplomatic or consular officer at a Royal Thai Embassy in your country and be married under Thai law. You will need the following, but you should check with the Royal Thai Embassy in your country, because the embassies differ country-by-country in their requirements:

- Original and signed copy of the Thai identification card of a Thai party and original and signed copy of the passport for non-Thais;

- the blue book (house registration) of the Thai party;

- statement to the effect that the non-Thai is legally capable of and free to marry;

- divorce certificate, or certificates, if applicable;

- letter of consent from parent or guardian if one of these is not present and if one of the parties is unemancipated and under the age of 20;

- if one of the parties has previously changed his or her name, a certificate to this effect;

- original and copies of the birth certificate and, if applicable, blue book of any minor children of the couple born previous to the marriage;

- if the bride was previously married and was divorced less than 310 days previous to the marriage at the embassy or consulate, a certificate to the effect that she is not pregnant.

If the above documents are from Thailand, they need not be certified by any authority other than the issuing authority. If a certification comes from the host country, it must be witnessed by the equivalent of the foreign ministry in that country.

For marriages at Royal Embassies or consulates two witnesses are needed for each party, and the consular or embassy officers can act as witnesses. There is no fee for the ceremony and when it is over, the embassy or consulate will issue a marriage registration or certificate. This can be used in Thailand to prove the existence of the marriage, as with a registration of family status discussed earlier.

Next time we'll talk about the other option, how to get a foreign marriage, celebrated outside of Thailand under the laws of another country, recognised by the Thai authorities. Once it is recognised this way, the Thai authorities will issue a registration of family status for the marriage. cs6

- James Finch of Chavalit Finch and Partners

(finch@chavalitfinchlaw.com) and Nilobon Tangprasit of Siam City Law Offices Ltd (nilobon@siamcitylaw.com)

For more information visit www.chavalitfinchlaw.com.

Comments? Questions? Contact us at the email addresses above.

[Admin]

Getting married in Thailand: Overview 
Bangkok Post: 13 Sep 2009
www.BangkokPost.com

FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND Part III: Proving a foreign marriage in Thailand

Writer: By James Finch and Nilobon Tangprasit


Last time we mentioned that there are reasons that you may need to prove to the Thai authorities that you are married. One reason is that for the purposes of death and divorce, one-half of the assets acquired during the marriage go to the spouse. We will expend much more ink on this issue later, but for now suffice it to say that to get half the marital assets (or for your spouse to get them) you will have to prove you have been married.

As we also mentioned last time, there are other reasons you will need to prove to the Thai authorities you've been married. For example, to legitimise children, to extend a visa based on marriage to a Thai citizen and as part of the adoption process.

Recently we have discussed how to get married before Thai governmental authorities, both within Thailand and at a Thai embassy or consulate outside. But what if you have been married outside of Thailand in a ceremony legal in another country? To prove to the Thai authorities that you are married under these circumstances, you will still need the document known as "registration of family status", or Khor Ror 22.

So how do you get a registration of family status if you've been married outside Thailand?

Remember, if you were married before a Royal Thai Embassy or consular official outside Thailand, you don't need a registration of family status. The marriage certificate or registration issued at the Thai embassy or consulate will be sufficient. Here are the steps to get the registration of family status if you were married outside Thailand, not before a Thai diplomatic officer, but in a legally binding marriage of another country. First you must go to the embassy in Thailand of the country where the marriage was performed. This embassy must certify that the marriage certificate or other official evidence of the marriage is genuine.

The procedure to get the marriage certificate varies widely by country. For example, for the UK, this is done by bringing the original of the marriage certificate to the consular section of the British embassy in Bangkok, paying a fee of 1,450 and picking it up with the required certification the next morning. For the US the steps are as follows:

- Obtain a sealed copy of the marriage certificate from the authority that issued it;

- Get the marriage certificate authenticated at the Secretary of State for the state in which the marriage took place. This may, depending on the state, involve notarisation and a certification by a court clerk that the notary's term has not expired;

- Obtain authentication by the US Secretary of State in the US by mail and paying a fee of US$7;

- Obtain authentication by the consular section of the US Embassy.

Next you have to have the authenticated marriage certificate translated by any competent translator and take both the original and the translation to the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok. A legal officer there will put a signed sticker on the Thai version indicating it has been legalised by the Department of Consular Affairs.

In Bangkok you and your spouse must next go to a district office. As mentioned in an earlier article, there are, citywide, 50 of these. Outside Bangkok you must go to the office of the amphur. You must have the following:

- The original and signed copy of the Thai identification card of the Thai party and original and signed copy of the foreigner's passport;

- The original and legalised Thai versions of the marriage certificate mentioned above.

As with other meetings at these offices, you don't need an appointment, but your may have to wait without one.

If all is in order, the district office or amphur will issue the registration of family status, the official proof in Thailand of your foreign marriage.

Next time we'll talk about some of the rights and liabilities of married people in Thailand.

James Finch of Chavalit Finch and Partners (finch@chavalitfinchlaw.com) and Nilobon Tangprasit of Siam City Law Offices Ltd
(nilobon@siamcitylaw.com)

For more information visit http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com.

Comments? Questions? Contact us at the email addresses above.

[Admin]

Marriage in Thailand, who owns what? 
Bangkok Post: 20 Sep 2009
www.BangkokPost.com

FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND Part IV: Marriage - who owns what?

Writer: By James Finch and Nilobon Tangprasit


So that we can later discuss how things get split up when the parties to a marriage separate, divorce or die, we have to talk a little about how Thai law treats property issues in a marriage. We will assume below that there is no pre-nuptial agreement, by which we'll also explain later the parties can do things in accordance with their own wishes.

Thai law makes an important distinction between property that the husband and wife each own separately (sin suan tua) and property that is owned by both together, as the property of the marriage (sin somros).

Property owned separately is that:

Belonging to either spouse before the marriage;

for personal use, dress and tools of a trade or profession;

acquired during the marriage via will or gift to the husband or wife and the will or document creating the gift does not specify whether or not the gift is to be made part of the property owned by the marriage, and;

money or property given to the wife prior to marriage as dowry, and which stays hers.

Property owned by the marriage is that:

Acquired during the marriage;

received via will or gift and the will or document creating the gift specifies that it is to be made part of the marriage property, and;

income earned during the marriage from the property held separately.

The rules about the two categories above are complex, but you should know two things about them. First, on death or divorce, if the property is owned separately, it just goes back to the party who owns it separately. If it is owned by the marriage, it is divided equally. Second, there is a presumption that property is owned by the marriage. This means that if, in connection with death or divorce, a judge can't really tell what it is, the judge will probably treat it as owned by the marriage and divide it.

Let's take an example. Let's say before you are married you own a bank account containing a million baht, a rental house and a car. You get married and continue to get rental income from the house. After the marriage takes place you trade in the car for a new one. You take the million baht and put a third in an account owned by your spouse and a third in a new account you open for yourself. With the final third you open a business operated by both you and your spouse. Then your spouse sues you for divorce. How will this property be divided by the judge?

You keep the rental house. It was yours when you married and it still is, even if it's appreciated in value. Whatever is left from the rent you received from it during the marriage, however, is divided equally. The new car is yours, too, because if something like the old car - brought to the marriage by one of the parties - is exchanged for something else, like the new car, the new item stays the property of the person who contributed the old property.

You put a third of the cash into a bank account in your spouse's name without specifying that it was property of the marriage. Thus it would go to her. If you can prove that the account you opened for yourself came directly from the account you had before the marriage, it will be yours separately. All interest during the marriage from both accounts, if identifiable, will be divided equally. As to the business, what you put in will go to you and the rest will be divided equally.

Next time we'll talk about alimony, spouse and child support requirements.

James Finch of Chavalit Finch and Partners (finch@chavalitfinchlaw.com) and Nilobon Tangprasit of Siam City Law Offices Ltd (nilobon@siamcitylaw.com)

For more information visit http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com.

Comments? Questions? Contact us at the email addresses above.

[Admin]

Marriage in Thailand: support, rules, rights 
Bangkok Post: 27 Sep 2009
www.BANGKOKPOST.com

Family law in Thailand part V: Who gets supported during the marriage?

Writer: By James Finch and Nilobon Tangprasit


Last time we talked about how the assets are owned in a marriage. This time we'll discuss who in the family may be entitled to get an income stream as a result of the fact that two parties are married.

Before we start, remember two things. First, rights of support between spouses that arise as a result of a marriage come only to those who have been legally married. Within Thailand this means the parties must have been married at a civil ceremony at a district office or amphur. Likewise, we've discussed in earlier columns that legal marriage status in Thailand can also be achieved by marriage outside of Thailand, if the parties take the proper steps.

The important thing to remember about the requirement of a civil ceremony is that there is no common law marriage under Thai law. Those who have married just in religious ceremonies or are just living together have few support obligations to one another.

We are often approached by foreigners who have lived with Thai partners for many years, had children and lived together as if married, but have not married in a civil ceremony. Often a client like this is consulting us because he or she has split up with their partner and the partner's lawyer has sent a letter demanding assets, support for the ex-partner, or support for children. Despite any moral obligation, if there has been no civil ceremony or proper marriage outside Thailand:

The parties have no obligation to support one another;

the mother has the automatic duty to support children of the union. Only if, however, children are legitimated by 1) subsequent marriage of the parents, 2) registration of legitimacy signed by the father, or 3) a court judgment, does the father have the duty to support the children. Well discuss this issue at length in a later column, and;

property acquired during the time the parties lived together, unless acquired separately, such as through a will or gift from another, will be considered jointly owned.

Second, remember that many of the rules of marriage that we are discussing here can be changed by a pre-nuptial agreement, a contract signed and filed by the parties at or before the civil ceremony. We will devote space later to how this is done, and to what it applies.

Let us assume, then, you have been married in a legally-recognised ceremony. What are your obligations to support your spouse and children born of the marriage?

The tone of Thai law with regard to spousal support is set by Section 1461 of the Civil and Commercial Code. It says husband and wife shall maintain and support each other according to each party's or her ability and condition of life. This general rule plays out in the specific rules we'll discuss below.

While the parties are married, each party must support the other. If the parties can't agree on this, a court will decide, based on the supporting party's ability to pay, the needs of the receiving party and the circumstances of the case. The parties must also support children of the marriage. The reverse, by the way, is true and children have the obligation to support their parents.

Generally, support is accomplished by periodic payments of money, but the court can authorise other ways. For example, the court might order the supporting party to send a child to an educational or vocational institution. Support payments can be modified by a court in the case of change of circumstances, for example the loss of a job by the supporting party.

Support for legitimate children of a marriage is an obligation both during marriage and thereafter if the parties divorce. It is treated as a joint liability. Thus, a mother supporting children may demand from the father reimbursement of at least part of the amount she has spent.

As to husband and wife, the rule is different. In a consensual divorce, it doesn't happen. After a divorce based on fault, however, support may be ordered by a court if the party not at fault is in dire need. This will be discussed in a later column.

During marriage, as a result of physical or mental disability or the threat of violence, a judge can order support payments by one party to the other. Of these situations, however, only in the case of the threat of physical violence can the court order that the parties live separately.

While a divorce is pending, the judge may make interim orders concerning marital property, living apart, custody of children or support of children or spouse.

Next week we'll discuss the grounds for divorce and property settlements and support in connection with it.

James Finch of Chavalit Finch and Partners (finch@chavalitfinchlaw.com) and Nilobon Tangprasit of Siam City Law Offices Ltd (nilobon@siamcitylaw.com)

For more information visit http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com

Comments? Questions? Contact us at the email addresses above.

[Admin]

[Admin]

Here is another wedding video......so... 

How was YOUR wedding? 

Any regrets or something you would have change if you were to marry TODAY?.....

What was your experience with the locals?
Were you married as in Thailand or later on when more familiar with Thai customs and others.

My wedding was nice, we had 2 pigs, one of them ran away in the rain while they tried to kill him but the village boys caught him later.
The wedding itself was kind of simple village style and nothing fancy but I enjoyed it a lot because it was special for me to have, well, not quite what I expected it to feel but a wedding is a wedding and the importance is what's between the couple themselves.
In the evening we had a great time with a 'Mo Lam' band with dancers and everything.
All the village drank and dance till the end of the show and that's it...... 
MARRIED!

[mike]

How was YOUR wedding? 

Any regrets or something you would have change if you were to marry TODAY?.....

What was your experience with the locals?

Well as you asked   

It was great, a bit different from any other wedding I've been too  hard work on the legs, knees and bum, impossible to understand a thing that was going on but just great.

These are some of the things that surprised me - maybe they should not have, but they did.

1. Me getting all of the money when my hands were tied up - I soon had to give it to the wife of course 
2. Having the offical (if you can call it that) wedding photos taken on the grave of grandma and grandpa.
3. Kneeling in front of a Pigs Head with things stuck out of it's nose for an hour.

No regrets whatsoever, however I think I would have splashed the cash a bit more on a bigger party afterwards.  We didn't have any pigs at our wedding feast, just the head.

Sorry, I've got no videos, but I've got loads of photos of the Pigs head and of Grandma's grave. If you are interested I'll post some.

Mike

[Khun Tony]

Admin,

I know the topic is old, but it appears they did not complete their advice!  The part about divorce and support etc!!  Is it possible to finish the sequence of articles?

[Admin]

Admin,

I know the topic is old, but it appears they did not complete their advice!  The part about divorce and support etc!!  Is it possible to finish the sequence of articles?

Your wish is my command.  

•THAILAND LEGAL ADVICE: A summary of many legal questions in one article.
http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com/publications/AR_80.pdf

FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND PART VI: Grounds, support and the property split in divorce.
http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com/publications/articles.php?id=81

•FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND PART VII: Legitimacy
http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com/publications/articles.php?id=82

•FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND PART VIII: Child custody and support.
http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com/publications/AR_83.pdf

•FAMILY LAW IN THAILAND PART IX: Divorce and how to get it done by mutual consent.
http://www.chavalitfinchlaw.com/publications/articles.php?id=84