Divorcing in Thailand

There are 2 ways to divorce in Thailand:

• Spouses can make an agreement. That could be on custody of children, on the common property and even on alimony.
• But when parties do not agree and one of them wants to divorce, his/her only option is going to Court.

At Isaan Lawyers, we try our best to get an agreement between the spouses. We know by experience that going to Court can be long, expensive and stressful. You never know what will happen in Court. An old proverb says that 'the worst agreement is better than the best law-suit". When you have an agreement, both parties know exactly what will happen, it's faster and cheaper.

But if an agreement is impossible, remember that a party wishing to ask for a divorce must have a GROUND to divorce in Court. You will find these grounds at article 1516 of the Commercial and Civil Code of Thailand. Grounds are, for example, adultery, separation of 3 years, desertion of 1 year, mental of physical abuse, etc.

There are 3 important things in a divorce:

• reasons to divorce (proving a ground if you want to ask the Court)
• the children (if the married couple has children, who will have custody, what about alimony, etc.)
• the separation of the common asset (called sin somros in Thai).

A divorce in Court usually takes between 6 months to 1 year in Thailand. The Court will ask a deposit of 2% of the value requested from the common property. (Ex: a couple bought a house after marriage of 2 million baht + a car of 1 million baht. These are into common property. So, the person wishing to divorce asks 50% of that amount, or 1,5 million. The Court will ask the plaintiff to pay 30,000 baht to hear that case. If parties settle down before the end, a part of that money can be requested back from the Court. If the plaintiff wins his case, the judge can ask the defendant to reimburse these fees to the plaintiff.