Getting married / divorced in Thailand - what's required

thai divorce and property law

By Anonymous, Created on: 21/02/2005, Last updated on: 16/01/2006

» I'm a U.S. citizen and married to a thai guy in U.S., he has nothing in U.S. but business ownership, land and bank accounts in thailand. our baby is going to be U.S. citizen, i want to know, is it true by law that he told me that i cannot co-own any business, land or bank account of his? what can...

• Anonymous commented : Correction. Son originally agreed to give new Thai bride $250 a month (not 250 bahts) from MT until processed her K-3. He also sent twice that originally for a period of time to help her pay off her previous debts. Then he insisted that they go back to their original agreement--$250 only--except for emergencies and gifts. She had gotten used to the higher amount and hit the roof and refuse to maintain the budget by spending all the $250 from the account he set up for her as soon as it arrived--the first week of the month and then cajoling constantly for more.. When he refused to send more--as he had warned her he must save for visa, marriage and take care of his new business--She claimed he was starving her and not meeting his obligations. She didn't seem to ever believe him when he would tell her by phone and by email NO NO NO to outspending the $250 each month. She never sent any sad ,separated sweetheart kinds of emails, once he forced her to stay within budget (she receives 8000 bahts a month from her sister for caring for the sister's 8 year old spoiled son---even bathing him, dressing him, powdering his bottom, and catering to his every whim) In the spring, she only wrote about her husband's being "selfish---all my Thai friends agree---you're selfish---just like Thai men are." (???) "Why did you sign marriage registration if you weren't going to support me?!! Why you lie? How can I trust you?" She also got him to provide for English lessons, and claimed to be the best student in her class, but then dropped the classes this spring, around the time he started "starving" her. This girl has a car, lives in a new high standard house which the three sisters just bought for their parents---to get them out of police housing. They also have a country house, with rice, pond, etc. The father isn't retired, still working but spends most of his time with his girlfriend and refuses to pay mortgage for the house, so daughters are each to pay a third...so new bride keeps asking my son to send money for mortgage ASAP.... 1) Could they annul and then apply for a K-1 visa with any chance of success? 2) In an uncontested divorce, in a marriage of 8 months, in which the couple has never lived together since registration, could the "husband" sign papers in US and get a proxy to present them at the amphur? 3) If they married in Bangkok, shouldn't they divorce there instead of in Khon Kaen which she insists? 4) Although non-contested, can the Amphur then assess a lot of trumped up fines on my son, and refuse to let him leave the country until they were paid? (She might have run up credit card debts or whatever in the nine months since he's seen her...) 5) Could he divorce her from the US, according to Thai laws, and send the papers over? We believe that last spring, she might have reunited with an old Thai boyfriend; or that her sister is lining up one of her husband's older friends to marry her next...they seem awfully anxious to end it....but my son says he would be a sitting duck for the cops or old boyfriends or whomever---leaving her with all his worldly assets, or at least half...(Somehow his bank knew of his recent foreign marriage, although he has never informed them? Weird...she has US in-laws with former CIA connections...it feels claustrophia and maybe we're paranoid...but reading the UN Report about Human Rights Violations during the Crackdown...and the disappearance of farangs, and the recognition that the police system is questionable and prisons unassailable...going back isn't an option, but the need to end this travesty is weighing on all of us...as we vasilate like the ones who write to Stickman...She's innocent/she's not; she's cohersed/she instigating; she's Cinderella/she's Cruella de Ville; she has a Thai boyfriend/she doesn't/she is lining up a richer farang/she's heartbroken; he could go safely and quickly for a co-signing/he will get hit with lawsuits and not be able to leave the country; he would be safe in Bangkok/he would be set upon by a gang paid to avenge Thai girl's loss of face---farang thinks $250 enough for ME while he saves for wedding!!! Then one day he noticed while she was suppose to be at home--as she stated in her email--visiting with friends next door in Khon Kaen--documents from the account he set up for her had a withdrawal from Bangkok. When he asked her about this she said it was a mistake. She claimed she hadn't returned to Bangkok since their wedding, the day he flew back to Montana. He went to great effort to have the bank double-check where the withdrawal occurred. She claimed it was the Malikan branch on Bangkok Road in Khon Kaen. So--he sent her $85 and told her to please use that same branch bank for the withdrawal...she has refused and asked that he drop the subject as it is boring her, and she dislikes him accusing her as she is innocent. Ever since her weird behavior this spring, my son and I have been combing the internet to try and understand Thai culture, divorce and marriage laws, bar girls and found this forum. She has belatedly agreed to co-signing an annulment, and wants him to apply for the K-1 afterwards. However, when he asks that she and her mother or whomever, and nephew meet him in Bangkok where they married for annulment, with him paying all expenses, hotel, plane, etc. She refuses and says they must meet in Khon Kaen. My son worries that it wouldn't be safe to return to Khon Kaen. Although agreeing to co-signment of a non-contested divorce, she seems to be talleying up "her" expenses---could they hit him with a big bill for costing her "face" or whatever...and refuse to let him leave the country w/o his first paying? With a police chief father, who seems to really enjoy finding drug cars, which the police can then keep for themselves, and an uncle who is a lawyer---and the kind of records she seems to be keeping---it seems highly unlikely that my son can sail in, sign, and sail out. Would a proxy be allowed? The girl, herself, seems to rather naive, she has been caring for her sister's (who married a farang GI) child since the boy was 2 years old---the child is constantly being refused immigration by Thai authorities. The family seems to have an agenda of their own and she is just a pawn in the game...or so it seemed, until last spring when she seemed to change character from a loving bride and began ranting for more and more money. (We chalked it up to some translator writing the letters...perhaps even her sister who is now rich via marrying a farang who later became successful businessman. NO to spending outside the budget, but she just went ahead. Then threatened to become a bar-girl if he didn't send between 450 and 500 dollars a month. Later, she said this wasn't a serious threat, only a "test" of him. Originally the future wedding ceremony in Khon Kaen was agreed by the family to be: $1000 bride price, a modest ceremony which could be up to a $1000, and a diamond ring. Then this spring, arguing for $400 or $500 a month--which was never agreed upon priorly although she claims so--she also demands now for the wedding: 150,000 bahts for mother; 150,000 bahts for reception which the Mom will cater ; and 150,000 bahts for show at wedding--with an unspecified amount returned later. One one-carat diamond ring. She now claims if these demands aren't meant her parents will refuse to let her come to America. Also, recently she has said if $250 monthly isn't sent to mother then she won't be "allowed" to go. Once in America, she claims she will try to pay half of Mom's costs. My son thought maybe they could get non-contested annulment and then apply for a K-1 visa for her---as it seems risky to bring her to America as a wife---while he would be protected if she were only a fiancee. If they were simpatico here, they could marry in the US, and then return for the Thai ceremony in a year (and he could get a pre-nup before he marries her here.) Would this work?

• 44 replies, 19,067 views