Article 1526: Maintenance to ex-spouse after divorce
Statutory text (Thai original)
ในคดีหย่า ถ้าเหตุแห่งการหย่าเป็นความผิดของคู่สมรสฝ่ายใดฝ่ายหนึ่งแต่ฝ่ายเดียว และการหย่านั้นจะทำให้อีกฝ่ายหนึ่งยากจนลง เพราะไม่มีรายได้พอจากทรัพย์สินหรือจากการงานตามที่เคยทำอยู่ระหว่างสมรส อีกฝ่ายหนึ่งนั้นจะขอให้ฝ่ายที่ต้องรับผิดจ่ายค่าเลี้ยงชีพให้ได้ ค่าเลี้ยงชีพนี้ศาลอาจให้เพียงใดหรือไม่ให้ก็ได้ โดยคำนึงถึงความสามารถของผู้ให้และฐานะของผู้รับและให้นำบทบัญญัติมาตรา ๑๕๙๘/๓๙ มาตรา ๑๕๙๘/๔๐ และมาตรา ๑๕๙๘/๔๑ มาใช้บังคับโดยอนุโลม สิทธิเรียกร้องค่าเลี้ยงชีพเป็นอันสิ้นสุด ถ้ามิได้ฟ้องหรือฟ้องแย้งในคดีหย่านั้น
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
In a case of divorce, if the ground for divorce has derived from the guilt of only one party, and the divorce will make the other become destitute deriving insufficient income out of his or her property or business which used to be carried on during the marriage, the latter is entitled to apply for the living allowances to be paid by the party at fault. The Court may decide whether the living allowances be granted or not by taking the ability of the grantor and the condition in life of the receiver into consideration, and the provisions of Section 1598/39, Section 1598/40 and Section 1598/41 shall apply mutatis mutandis. The right to claim the living allowances is extinguished if it is not raised in the plaint or counter-claim in the action for divorce.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 1526 is Thai post-divorce maintenance, limited and conditional. The claimant must show that the divorce ground arose from the fault of the other party alone, and that the divorce leaves them destitute with insufficient income from their property or from the business they carried on during the marriage. The statutory criteria for the court are the payer's ability and the recipient's condition in life, and Sections 1598/39 to 1598/41 apply. The right is extinguished altogether unless it is raised in the plaint or the counter-claim in the divorce action itself. In practice awards are modest by Western standards, often 5,000 to 30,000 baht a month, and are usually time-limited rather than permanent. Cross-border enforcement is difficult, so the firm typically negotiates a lump-sum alternative.
Why this matters in practice
For lawyers: §1526 maintenance is only available in court divorce where the court finds fault; agree to incorporate maintenance into the settlement agreement in mutual-consent divorce because courts cannot award it separately after registration of the divorce. For clients: if you are divorcing by consent, negotiate maintenance in your divorce settlement, you cannot go back to court for it after registration.
Legislative history
Section 1526 has applied since the B.E. 2519 revision. The Marriage Equality Act (No. 24, B.E. 2567), in force 22 Jan 2025, made the provision gender-neutral so either spouse may be ordered to pay or entitled to receive post-divorce maintenance.
Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section
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Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 15067/2555 (2012)
Maintenance under §1526 requires a contested court divorce where one party is at fault; a settlement divorce during proceedings does not qualify.
Where parties agreed to divorce during proceedings (consent divorce recorded by the court), the court held this was not a fault-based court divorce under §1526; accordingly, no post-divorce maintenance could be awarded.
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Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 4685/2540 (1997)
Section 1526 empowers the court to award maintenance in one situation, where the divorce is the fault of one spouse alone and will leave the other destitute; it does not confine maintenance to cases in which a court adjudicates the divorce. Maintenance agreed in a compromise in a divorce case extends the spouses' duty to support one another beyond the end of the marriage, is not contrary to public order or good morals and is enforceable; and because section 1526 applies sections 1598/39 to 1598/41, the court may later revoke, reduce or increase it if the parties' circumstances, income or standing change.
The parties compromised a divorce case on terms that the defendant would register the divorce and pay the plaintiff maintenance of 35% of his salary every month indefinitely, and the court gave judgment accordingly. The Court held that section 1526 does not confine maintenance to divorces adjudicated by a court, so the agreed term was valid and enforceable. Because section 1526 applies section 1598/39, the defendant, as an interested person, could apply to have the order varied when the parties' circumstances, income or standing changed, and that application was not an appeal against a compromise judgment barred by Civil Procedure Code section 138 paragraph two. As the defendant was by then economically worse off than the plaintiff, the court had power to order him to stop paying.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 38 Supreme Court decisions (1963 to 2025)
Décisions de citation sélectionnées
- Decision 1242/2567 (2024)
- Decision 875/2561 (2018)
- Decision 8151/2560 (2017)
- Decision 7072/2559 (2016)
- Decision 13552/2558 (2015)
- Decision 10770/2558 (2015)
- Décision 4398/2558 (2015)
- Decision 8046/2556 (2013)
Cette liste est sélectionnée automatiquement, en privilégiant les jugements qui reposent sur cet article plutôt que sur ceux qui se contentent de le citer lors du prononcé de la peine. Elle n'a pas encore été examinée par le cabinet.
Le plus souvent cité aux côtés de
- Article 1516 14
- Article 1531 6
- Article 1518 4
- Article 1523 4
- Article 1627 4
- Article 1564 3
Sections qui apparaissent le plus souvent dans les mêmes jugements que celui-ci. Le chiffre correspond au nombre de décisions.
Calculé sur l'ensemble du corpus de 83 652 décisions de la Cour suprême du cabinet, de 1921 à 2026. Le décompte est exhaustif ; la plage d'années indiquée élimine les valeurs aberrantes rares afin de refléter la répartition réelle des citations. Ces chiffres sont calculés par nos soins et ne constituent pas des statistiques officielles de la Cour. Comment nous les comptons et ce que nous avons mesuré
Foire aux questions
Combien de temps dure la pension alimentaire après un divorce en Thaïlande ?
Under Section 1526 the court sets the amount and the duration at its discretion, weighing the payer's ability and the recipient's condition in life. There is no statutory fixed period. Nothing in the Code ends maintenance automatically on the recipient's remarriage: a remarriage is a change of circumstances, so the payer must apply to the court under Section 1598/39, which may cancel, reduce, increase or re-establish the maintenance.
Guides connexes sur ThaiLawOnline
Citer cette section
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Citation simple
Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1526 (Thailand) -
Citation académique
Civil and Commercial Code (Thailand), s. 1526. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-civil-code/section-1526/ (accessed 30 août 2026). -
Citation thaïlandaise
ป.พ.พ. มาตรา 1526 -
Lien permanent
https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-civil-code/section-1526/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-civil-code/section-1526/"><p>In a case of divorce, if the ground for divorce has derived from the guilt of only one party, and the divorce will make the other become destitute deriving insufficient income out of his or her property or business which used to be carried on…</p><footer>Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1526 (Thailand): <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-civil-code/section-1526/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.