Évalué par Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., titulaire de la licence de l’Ordre des avocats thaïlandais 3149/2556, pour ThaiLawOnline, un cabinet d’avocats thaïlandais œuvrant pour des étrangers depuis 2006.
These are the Supreme Court decisions that shape a divorce in Thailand: what the judges require on each ground, how compensation and alimony work, and what a foreign spouse has to prove. Start with our full guide to divorce en Thaïlande if you need the process first.
Table des matières
How the courts use these decisions
Thai statute law is short on detail, so the family courts work from Supreme Court (Dika) precedent. The decisions below are the ones a judge will have in mind in a foreigner’s divorce. Every number links to our bilingual summary and the full Thai judgment in the Hub des décisions relatives au droit de la famille of our Base de données des décisions de la Cour suprême, and every section number links to the annotated text in Book 5 of the Civil and Commercial Code. We read each decision in Thai to its final disposition before citing it here.
Grounds for divorce: what the judges actually require
The separation ground in Section 1516 (4/2) is the one expats rely on most, and it is narrower than it looks. In Décision 451/2567 the husband had lived apart from his wife for far more than three years and still lost: the separation must be voluntary on both sides, and because it was caused by his own affair while his wife had sued the other woman for damages, it was his choice alone. Décisions 1519-1520/2566 is the mirror image: where the husband’s own conduct drove the wife out and he knew it, he was taken to have agreed to live apart, the three-year separation counted, and the divorce was his fault, which also opened the door to alimony. Décision 7795/2560 adds a procedural lesson: a wife who said at trial that the separation was for business reasons could not argue in the Supreme Court that it was forced by her husband’s mistress, because the issues in a divorce are fixed by the pleadings.
On fault grounds, Décision 4104/2564 holds that a husband who orders his wife out of the family home commits serious hostility to the marriage under Article 1516 (6), and that two later overnight family trips with the children were not forgiveness under Article 1518. Décision 7534/2560 is the standard desertion case under Section 1516 (4): a husband who moved in with another woman shortly after his wife’s stroke and had not returned for more than a year had wilfully deserted her. The at-fault spouse cannot turn the tables. In Décision 2109/2567 the husband who had affairs, stopped maintaining his wife, assaulted her and forged her signature failed on every ground he pleaded, because her police complaints and her letter to his employer were legitimate self-protection, and in Décision 157/2561 a wife who left after her husband changed the locks had not deserted him, and her complaint to his superior about his affair was her right, not a ground against her.
Adultery: proof, compensation and the one-year clock
Compensation under Article 1523 is the money claim that most often accompanies a Thai divorce, and the Supreme Court polices it closely. Décision 5856/2567 applied the earlier wording of Section 1523 paragraph 2 and required a wife suing the other woman to plead and prove that she displayed the relationship openly, while the current wording also reaches a person who transgressed the spouse in an adulterous way; Décision 748/2568 adds that the third party must have known of the marriage, and that the evidence is weighed more strictly than in an ordinary civil claim because the accusation disgraces two families. Décision 4969/2565 is the trap for people who settle: a divorce entered by consent judgment is not a divorce decreed on the adultery ground in Section 1516 (1), so no compensation is due from the spouse under paragraph one. Décision 5579/2567 dismissed a claim of 300,000,000 THB because the wife had known of the affair for almost six years, signed separation agreements securing her maintenance and sued only when the payments stopped, which the Court treated as an exercise of the right in bad faith under Article 5.
On proof and timing, Décision 5259-5260/2561 holds that a secretly recorded conversation is admissible when the person who recorded it testifies, that the one-year limit in Article 1529 is personal to the spouses and cannot be invoked by the third party sued for compensation (the Court was dealing with the time limit for suing for divorce, and Section 1529 also names Section 1523, so do not treat a compensation claim as free of the one-year limit), and that forgiveness under Article 1518 must be pleaded at first instance or it is lost. Décision 3247-3248/2568 admitted messages and photographs copied from the husband’s phone, confirmed that every allegation denied in the answer stays in issue whatever the court’s short statement of issues says, and awarded 500,000 THB compensation plus alimony of 15,000 THB a month for up to 15 years. Décision 4977/2565 settles what happens when a spouse dies during the appeal: the marriage ends by death under Article 1501 before the divorce can take effect under Article 1531, the divorce and the property split fall away, but the mistress who had lived openly with the husband still had to pay.
Money after the divorce: alimony and maintenance
Thai law has no general alimony. Article 1526 gives a living allowance only where the divorce is the other spouse’s sole fault and leaves the claimant poorer, and Décision 875/2561 confirms the three conditions and adds the practical consequence: a divorce settled by consent produces no fault finding, so no alimony unless the settlement says so. Décision 1242/2567 shows the other extreme: a wealthy 47-year-old husband divorcing his 66-year-old, retired and ill wife for his own fault was ordered to pay 50,000 THB a month for ten years, even though she had been the richer spouse earlier in the marriage. Décision 8151/2560, a case between an American husband and a Thai wife, holds that the spouse whose fault caused the divorce cannot claim alimony but can still receive maintenance between spouses up to the final judgment under Article 1598/38, which the court may fix even if nobody asked. Décision 2109/2567 makes the same point from the other side: a wife may claim maintenance under Article 1461 without asking for a divorce at all. For the children, Décision 2971/2544 holds that silence about child support in an amphur divorce agreement does not stop the court fixing it later, Décision 7345/2560 that maintenance runs from the child’s birth, and Décision 1218/2567 that an agreed figure falls away once the child moves permanently to the paying parent.
Property: the rulings that decide the split
The division of sin somros has its own body of case law, set out in full in our guide to la répartition des biens lors d’un divorce thaïlandais. The decisions that matter most: Décision 3615/2568 (a spouse who admits assets existed but says they were sold must prove the sale, or the asset is divided anyway), Décision 8321/2568 (provident fund and pension fund balances built up during the marriage are sin somros up to the filing date), Décision 452/2567 et Décision 1319/2568 (the property memorandum signed at the amphur binds you as written, under Article 1532), Décision 1303/2568 (a clause forfeiting all the sin somros for a further assault is a penalty the court may reduce), and l’arrêt n° 186/2565 et Décision 372/2567 on when land is one spouse’s separate property.
Foreign spouses and foreign marriages
Where one spouse is not Thai, section 27 of the Conflict of Laws Act B.E. 2481 applies before any ground is examined. Décision 1869/2566 is the decision every foreigner should know: a Thai wife lost her divorce from her British husband because she never proved, as a fact, that English law permits divorce, and the appeal court was entitled to raise the point itself. Décision 8151/2560 shows the same rule working: the American husband proved that New York law and the Thai Code both allow divorce, so the Thai court had jurisdiction and applied Thai grounds. If you married abroad, read our pages on divorce en Thaïlande avec un certificat de mariage étranger et sur si un divorce thaïlandais est valide à l'étranger.
Foire aux questions
Can I divorce in Thailand just because we have lived apart for more than three years?
Only if the separation was voluntary on both sides or ordered by a court. In Supreme Court Decision 451/2567 the husband had lived apart from his wife for well over three years and the divorce was still refused, because the separation was caused by his own affair and his wife had never agreed to it. Section 1516 (4/2) requires more than the passage of time.
Does a Thai court need proof of my own country’s law before it can divorce us?
Yes, if either spouse is not Thai. Under section 27 of the Conflict of Laws Act the court must be satisfied that the national laws of both spouses permit divorce, and Supreme Court Decision 1869/2566 held that this is a fact the plaintiff must prove: a Thai wife lost her case against her British husband because no evidence of English law was put before the court.
Do the courts follow earlier Supreme Court decisions in a divorce?
Thai courts are not formally bound by earlier decisions, but the family courts work from Supreme Court precedent, because the statute is short on detail. The rulings on this page are the ones a judge will have in mind in a foreigner’s divorce.
Where can I read the full judgments?
Every decision number on this page links to our bilingual summary and the full Thai judgment in the Family Law decisions library.
Related guides
- Divorce in Thailand for foreigners
- Family Law decisions library
- Contested divorce in Thailand
- Property division in a Thai divorce
Actualités juridiques thaïlandaises, gratuites par courriel
Des mises à jour en anglais simple sur les changements législatifs thaïlandais concernant les étrangers : propriété, visas, mariage, affaires et testaments. Un court courriel par mois, envoyé par un cabinet d’avocats établi depuis 2006. Zéro spam, désabonnement possible à tout moment.