Question 1

What are the grounds for divorce in Thailand?

Accepted Answer

Section 1516 lists the statutory grounds, including maintaining or honouring another person as a spouse, adultery, seriously injurious misconduct, physical or mental cruelty or serious insult, wilful desertion for more than one year, imprisonment for more than one year by final judgment where the other spouse was not complicit, voluntary separation for more than three years because the couple cannot live together peacefully, disappearance or a court declaration of disappearance for more than three years, failure to give proper maintenance and support, insanity continuing for more than three years, breach of a written bond of good behaviour, and a serious communicable disease or a physical condition permanently preventing cohabitation. The Amendment Act (No. 24) B.E. 2567 rewrote these grounds in gender-neutral terms. Ask our Thai family-law team to review your documents by phone, LINE or email before you file.

Question 2

How does an uncontested divorce work?

Accepted Answer

Section 1514 requires a divorce by mutual consent to be made in writing and certified by the signatures of at least two witnesses, and section 1515 provides that where the marriage was registered under the Code, the divorce is complete only when both parties register it at a district office. A privately signed divorce paper therefore ends nothing. Couples normally attach a settlement agreement (banthuek kho toklong) to the divorce register dealing with parental power, child maintenance and division of property, because that record is directly enforceable. Ask our Thai family-law team to review your documents by phone, LINE or email before you file.

Question 3

How is property divided on divorce?

Accepted Answer

Section 1533 provides that on divorce the marital property is divided equally between the spouses. Section 1532 fixes the reference date: for a divorce by mutual consent the property is divided as it stands on the date of registration, and where the court grants a divorce the date the action was filed governs. Section 1534 protects the other spouse by treating property that one spouse improperly disposed of for their sole benefit, or with intent to cause loss, as if it still existed for the purpose of the division. Ask our Thai family-law team to review your documents by phone, LINE or email before you file.

Question 4

Can I claim compensation from my spouse's lover?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Section 1523 allows a spouse who obtains a divorce on the ground in section 1516 (1) to claim compensation both from the other spouse and from the person maintained or honoured as a spouse. The second paragraph also allows a claim against anyone who has taken liberties with your spouse in an adulterous manner, or who openly holds themselves out as being in such a relationship, even without a divorce action. Section 1525 leaves the amount to the court's discretion, and the one-year limitation period in section 1529 applies. Ask our Thai family-law team to review your documents by phone, LINE or email before you file.

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Divorce — Administrative, Contested & Property Division

Questions in this cluster — 4

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