{"id":1782,"date":"2026-04-18T17:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/glossary\/adultery\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T10:46:23","slug":"adultery","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/adultery\/","title":{"rendered":"L'adult\u00e8re comme motif de divorce en Tha\u00eflande"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Adult\u00e8re<\/strong> (\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e40\u0e1b\u0e47\u0e19\u0e0a\u0e39\u0e49, <em>kan pen chu<\/em>, \u00e9galement appel\u00e9 <em>infidelity<\/em> ou <em>an affair<\/em> in divorce pleadings) is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than their spouse. In Thailand it is not a crime, but it is the first ground for divorce in Section 1516 of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/thai-civil-and-commercial-code\/\">Code civil et commercial<\/a>, and under Section 1523 it gives the wronged spouse a money claim against both the unfaithful spouse and the third party. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/contested-divorce\/\">divorce contest\u00e9<\/a> it is the ground most often pleaded.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table des mati\u00e8res<\/h2><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#how-section-1516-1-and-section-1523-work\">Comment fonctionnent l'article 1516(1) et l'article 1523<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#proving-adultery-before-the-family-court\">Prouver l'adult\u00e8re devant le Juge aux affaires familiales<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#adultery-and-the-other-consequences-of-divorce\">L'adult\u00e8re et les autres cons\u00e9quences du divorce<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#frequently-asked-questions\">Foire aux questions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-section-1516-1-and-section-1523-work\">Comment fonctionnent l'article 1516(1) et l'article 1523<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Section 1516(1)<\/strong> allows a spouse to sue for divorce where the other spouse has maintained or honoured another person as a spouse, has committed adultery, or has had regular sexual intercourse with another person. Since the Civil and Commercial Code Amendment Act (No. 24) B.E. 2567 took effect on 23 January 2025 the wording is gender-neutral, so husbands, wives and spouses in a same-sex marriage have the same ground and the same claims. One proven act is enough; the court does not require a pattern.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Article 1523<\/strong> deals with money. When a divorce is granted on this ground, the innocent spouse may claim compensation from the unfaithful spouse and from the person who had the relationship. The third party can be sued even without a divorce, provided the spouse has not consented to or connived at the conduct. Awards commonly fall between 100,000 and 1,000,000 baht and depend on the length of the marriage, the children, the family&#8217;s standing and how public the affair was. Under Section 1529 the claim must be brought within one year of the day the wronged spouse learned of the facts.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"proving-adultery-before-the-family-court\">Prouver l'adult\u00e8re devant le Juge aux affaires familiales<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>The petition is filed at the Juvenile and Family Court. Adultery is rarely proved by direct evidence, so the court draws inferences from a body of material: chat messages and photographs, hotel and travel records, bank transfers to the third party, witness testimony, and sometimes a private investigator&#8217;s report. A single message or hearsay from a friend is not enough. Foreign-language evidence must be translated into Thai and certified.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Practical points for a foreigner: keep the evidence in its original form with dates, do not confront the third party in a way that could itself amount to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/defamation\/\">diffamation<\/a> or assault, and remember that the one-year clock runs from knowledge, not from the divorce decision. The court offers mediation before trial, and a well-prepared case is usually resolved in four to eight months, longer if appealed. The steps are described in the guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/contested-divorce-in-thailand\/\">divorce contentieux en Tha\u00eflande<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"adultery-and-the-other-consequences-of-divorce\">L'adult\u00e8re et les autres cons\u00e9quences du divorce<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Fault matters beyond the compensation claim. A spouse whose adultery caused the divorce can be ordered under Section 1526 to pay a living allowance to the other, whereas a divorce by consent at the amphur carries no such finding. Two conditions in that section are easy to miss and both are strict. The allowance is available only where the divorce leaves the other spouse destitute, with insufficient income from the property or business they lived on during the marriage; it is not a general award for being wronged. And <strong>the right is extinguished unless it is raised in the plaint or the counter-claim in the divorce action itself<\/strong>, so a spouse who wins the divorce and asks for maintenance afterwards has lost it. Property is separate: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/marital-property\/\">sans sommeil<\/a> is still divided equally under Section 1533 whatever the conduct, although a spouse who spent marital assets on the affair can have those sums counted against their half.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/child-custody\/\">Garde<\/a> is decided on the child&#8217;s interests, not on which parent was unfaithful, and adultery alone does not remove <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/parental-powers\/\">pouvoir parental<\/a>. Where the couple can agree, an uncontested divorce with a written agreement is faster and cheaper than proving adultery in court, and the claim against the lover can still be pursued separately within the one-year period.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"frequently-asked-questions\">Foire aux questions<\/h2>\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list\">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question\">L'adult\u00e8re est-il un crime en Tha\u00eflande ?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer\">\n\n<p>Non. L'adult\u00e8re n'est pas une infraction p\u00e9nale en vertu du Code p\u00e9nal tha\u00eflandais. Il s'agit d'une affaire civile : un motif de divorce en vertu de l'article 1516(1) du Code civil et commercial et le fondement d'une demande d'indemnisation en vertu de l'article 1523 contre le conjoint infid\u00e8le et le tiers.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-2\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question\">Quelle indemnisation puis-je r\u00e9clamer pour adult\u00e8re en Tha\u00eflande ?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer\">\n\n<p>There is no fixed tariff. Awards under Section 1523 commonly range from 100,000 to 1,000,000 baht, depending on the length of the marriage, whether there are children, the family&#8217;s standing and how public the affair was. The claim must be filed within one year of learning of the facts.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-3\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question\">Can I sue my spouse&#8217;s lover in Thailand without divorcing?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer\">\n\n<p>Oui. L'article 1523 permet \u00e0 un conjoint de r\u00e9clamer une indemnisation \u00e0 une personne ayant une liaison avec son mari ou sa femme, qu'un divorce s'ensuive ou non, \u00e0 moins que le conjoint n'ait consenti \u00e0 la relation ou n'y ait conniv\u00e9. Le d\u00e9lai de prescription d'un an s'applique toujours.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Voir aussi\u00a0: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/ground\/\">Motifs de divorce<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/desertion\/\">d\u00e9sertion<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/contested-divorce\/\">divorce contest\u00e9<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/family-court\/\">Tribunal pour enfants et pour la famille<\/a>, et les guides pour <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/divorce-in-thailand\/\">divorce en Tha\u00eflande<\/a> ET <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/contested-divorce-in-thailand\/\">divorce contentieux en Tha\u00eflande<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Last reviewed: 6 September 2026. Sections 1516, 1523, 1526, 1529 and 1533 of the Civil and Commercial Code were read in Thai and in English for this review. Four statements were checked and stand: that adultery is not a criminal offence; that Section 1529 does extinguish the Section 1523 compensation claim after one year, because that section names Section 1523 in terms; that the claim against the third party under Section 1523 paragraph two needs no divorce, while the claim under paragraph one follows a judgment for divorce; and that Section 1533 divides marital property equally regardless of fault. One addition was made: Section 1526 grants a living allowance only where the divorce leaves the other spouse destitute, and the right is extinguished unless it is raised in the plaint or counter-claim in the divorce action itself. <strong>Ce que cette critique ne couvre pas, dit plut\u00f4t qu'implicitement.<\/strong> The compensation range, the four-to-eight-month timeline, the evidence and mediation practice before the Juvenile and Family Court, and the translation requirements are litigation practice and no statute fixes them; they were not verified. The citation of the amending Act that made Section 1516 (1) gender-neutral was not checked against the Royal Gazette, although its commencement date of 23 January 2025 is correct.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adultery (\u0e01\u0e32\u0e23\u0e40\u0e1b\u0e47\u0e19\u0e0a\u0e39\u0e49, kan pen chu, also called infidelity or an affair in divorce pleadings) is voluntary sexual intercourse between a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":214,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"adultery thailand divorce","rank_math_title":"Adultery and Thailand Divorce: Section 1516 | ThaiLawOnline","rank_math_description":"Adultery in a Thailand divorce is a statutory ground under Section 1516(1) and lets the wronged spouse claim compensation from the lover under Section 1523.","rank_math_breadcrumb_title":"","rank_math_canonical_url":""},"class_list":["post-1782","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7190,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1782\/revisions\/7190"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}