Thai marriage law and matrimonial property

A marriage in Thailand will have legal consequences for you and your spouse such as the obligation of maintenance towards each other, legal relationship with children born and will also have consequences for property you own. Under Thai matrimonial property law all assets acquired during the marriage (with a few exeptions) becomes jointly owned property between husband and wife and when the marriage ends in the event of death or divorce all jointly owned ('matrimonial') property must under Thai law be divided in equal shares (section 1533). Personal property (property you owned before the marriage) remains under Thai law automatically exclusive ownership of each spouse and the other spouse cannot make claims to personal property of the other spouse during marriage or in the event of death or divorce.

Freedom of contract in a Thai marriage

Agreements between husband and wife in Thailand

Under Thai marriage laws any agreement between husband and wife entered into during the marriage can be voided by either of them at any time during the marriage or within one year from the final divorce. For this reason only a prenuptial agreement between husband and wife is under Thai law a valid contract if made pre-marriage and registered in the marriage register at the time of marriage, but it is a void contract if made post-nuptial (section 1466). 

Marital home and division of the house in a divorce

Real estate ownership in an foreign/ Thai marriage

As it is strictly prohibited for foreign nationals to own land in Thailand it has long been illegal for a Thai national married to a foreigner to acquire land because the foreign spouse would this way obtain ownership in land through Thai matrimonial property laws (assets between husband and wife). It is only since a Ministry of Interior regulation dated March 23 1999 that it is allowed for a Thai national married to a foreigner to purchase land but the land must become a non-marital property of the Thai. The regulation requires a strict procedure to prevent the land from becoming a joint or martrimonial property between husband and wife. In the registration of ownership procedure it must be confirmed that all money paid for the land is personal property of the Thai spouse and therefore the land will become a personal property of the Thai spouse (section 1472). Only in this case the land officer is allowed to register ownership of land as a personal property on the name of a Thai national married to a foreigner.

Protect your rights in a real estate owned by a Thai spouse

Real estate ownership by a Thai national married to a foreigner

When you registered a property (land and house) in Thailand on your Thai spouse's name during your marriage you may have thought about a personal protection in the form of a usufruct to protect your interest in case of divorce or in the event your Thai spouse would predecease you. However, you may not be familiar with the right of usufruct in Thailand as it is a typical Civil Law property right and you may also not be aware what your rights and obligations under a right of usufruct are.

Thai marriage and marital property

Personal property jointly owned common property

THAI MARRIAGE LAWS specify that property belonging to either spouse before the marriage and khongman (section 1437) remains personal property during the marriage, and each spouse shall remain the sole manager of his or her personal property (Section 1473).

Section 1472: 'if personal property during the marriage has been exchanged for other property, other property has been bought or money has been acquired from selling it, such other property or money acquired shall remain personal property (Sin Suan Tua)'.

Land owned as a personal property of a Thai spouse

Thailand land acquisition by a Thai national married to a foreigner

FOREIGNERS married to a Thai national can't own land in Thailand, but the land department does allow a Thai national married to a foreigner to own land after a joint statement together with his or her foreign spouse or proof that the money expended on the land is personal property of the Thai spouse (read up on the procedure). This effectively means that the land (and in practice often land and house and in some cases condominium) is purchased as a personal property of the Thai spouse and not becomes a marital or jointly owned property between husband and wife (Sin Somros). The foreign spouse has therefore no claim to the property and the Thai spouse has the right to sell, mortgage, transfer or exchange the property without consent of the foreign spouse.

A foreigner married to a Thai national is under the Civil and Commercial Code a statutory heir of the Thai spouse (Inheritance Laws CCC ). The Land Code Act also that a foreign national can inherit land as a statutory heir with permission of the Minister of Interior. The Thailand Land Code Act also states that it is prohibited for foreigners to own land, except if there is a treaty allowing a foreigner to own land. How does this in practice work?