Reviewed by ThaiLawOnline, a licensed Thai law firm practising in Thailand since 2006. Thai lawyer of record: Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., Thai Bar Licence 3149/2556.
Last updated on September 5, 2026
Child support (ค่าอุปการะเลี้ยงดูบุตร, kha uppakara liang du but, in the Code simply maintenance) is the money a parent must provide for a child’s upbringing and education. Section 1564 of the Civil and Commercial Code places the duty on both parents during the child’s minority, and beyond it for an adult child who is disabled and cannot earn a living. The amount is fixed by agreement or by the Juvenile and Family Court under Section 1598/38, having regard to the child’s condition in life, the payer’s means and the circumstances of the case.
Table of Contents
How the Code sets and changes maintenance
The duty. Section 1564 obliges the father and mother to maintain and educate their child until majority at 20. There is no statutory formula and no percentage of income. Section 1598/38 gives the three factors the court weighs, and Section 1598/40 lets it order payment periodically, normally monthly. In a divorce, Section 1522 requires the spouses to settle who pays and how much, and the court decides where they do not.
Variation and protection. Under Section 1598/39 either parent, or any interested person, may ask the court to revoke, reduce, increase or restore maintenance when circumstances, income or the child’s condition in life have changed. Under Section 1598/41 the right cannot be renounced, attached or transferred: a mother’s promise never to claim does not bind the child, and a creditor cannot seize the payments. For a child of unmarried parents the duty bites only once the father has completed legitimation, but then runs back to birth under Section 1557, so arrears can cover years.
Practical points for foreign parents
In an uncontested divorce at the amphur the parents record the maintenance figure with the divorce. State the amount, the payment date, the bank account, the currency, who pays school fees and medical bills, and an end date. An agreement between the parents binds them but not the child, who can still claim more if the sum is inadequate. Give spousal maintenance its own end date rather than tying it to the child’s education, because a badly drafted clause can end every payment on the day the child graduates.
Courts look at real figures: payslips, tax returns, school invoices and rent. Foreign fathers earning abroad are assessed on that income, and orders in the tens of thousands of baht a month are ordinary for a comfortable household, while a parent on Thai wages may be ordered a few thousand. A parent who loses a job goes back to court under Section 1598/39 rather than simply stopping payment.
Enforcement inside and outside Thailand
A registered divorce agreement or a court order is enforced through the Juvenile and Family Court and the Legal Execution Department, which can garnish wages and bank accounts and seize and sell property. Execution takes months rather than weeks, and a parent with no assets in Thailand is hard to reach. Withholding contact does not suspend the duty, and unpaid maintenance does not justify refusing contact.
Thailand is not a party to the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention, so a Thai order is not automatically enforceable abroad, nor a foreign order in Thailand. A parent overseas usually has to sue again where the payer lives, using the Thai judgment as evidence, and a foreign order is enforced in Thailand by a fresh claim in the Thai court.
Frequently asked questions
How much is child support in Thailand?
There is no fixed scale. The court applies Section 1598/38 and looks at the child’s condition in life, the payer’s means and the circumstances, using payslips, school fees and living costs. Orders range from a few thousand baht a month for a parent on Thai wages to tens of thousands where the payer earns a foreign salary.
Until what age is child support paid in Thailand?
Until the child reaches majority at 20 under Section 1564, and beyond that only for a disabled child who cannot earn a living. Parents may agree to pay longer, for example through university, and a court will hold them to that promise if the agreement is clearly worded.
Can a Thai child support order be enforced abroad?
Not automatically. Thailand has not joined the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention, so recognition depends on the law of the country where the paying parent lives. The usual course is a new claim in that country using the Thai judgment as evidence, which is why proper service and a fair hearing in the Thai case matter.
See also: child custody, visitation rights, divorce agreement, legitimation, and the full guides to child support in Thailand and divorce in Thailand.
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