อำนาจปกครองบุตรแต่เพียงผู้เดียวในประเทศไทย

ตรวจสอบโดย ThaiLawOnline สำนักงานกฎหมายไทยที่ได้รับใบอนุญาตและดำเนินกิจการในประเทศไทยตั้งแต่ปี พ.ศ. 2549 ทนายความผู้รับผิดชอบสำนวน: วิชุดา อรรถเมธากุล, น.ม., ใบอนุญาตเนติบัณฑิตไทย เลขที่ 3149/2556.

อัปเดตล่าสุดเมื่อ 5 กันยายน 2569

สิทธิ์ในการดูแลอย่างเต็มที่ (อำนาจปกครองแต่เพียงผู้เดียว, sole custody, in the Code sole parental power) is the position where one parent alone exercises parental power over a child, so that the other parent no longer shares decisions about residence, schooling, medical care or travel. Thai law does not use the word custody; it speaks of parental power under Sections 1566 and 1567 of the ประมวลกฎหมายแพ่งและพาณิชย์. Sole parental power arises by agreement registered at the district office, by court order, or by operation of law when the other parent dies or is declared incompetent.

How Thai law creates sole parental power

มาตรา 1566 starts from the rule that a child is subject to the parental power of both parents. It then lists when one parent exercises that power alone: the other parent is dead or cannot be found, has been declared incompetent or is confined for mental illness, a court has granted sole power to one parent, or the parents have agreed in the manner the law provides. Section 1567 spells out what the holder can do: fix the child’s residence, discipline the child reasonably and demand the child’s return from anyone keeping the child without right.

At divorce, Section 1520 requires spouses divorcing by mutual consent to record in writing which of them will exercise parental power, and lets the court decide when they cannot agree or the divorce is contested. Under Sections 1521 and 1582 a court can later remove or restrict parental power from a parent who behaves improperly. The test throughout is the ผลประโยชน์สูงสุดของเด็ก, not the wishes of either parent.

Practical points for a foreign parent

The cheapest route is agreement. In an การหย่าร้างโดยไม่มีข้อโต้แย้ง at the amphur, the registrar records a short custody clause on the divorce register. The office writes only a line or two, so parents who want detailed terms on schooling, contact and relocation bring their own signed agreement and have it referenced. That registered clause is what schools and embassies later ask to see.

Where the parents never married, the father has no parental power until he completes การรับรอง; the mother already holds sole power under Section 1546. A Thai birth certificate naming the father, or years of paying for the child, does not amount to shared custody. The reverse mistake is a foreign parent moving the child abroad on the strength of joint parental power alone. Section 1567(1) gives the right to choose the child’s residence to whoever holds parental power, and where that power is shared the other parent must consent; without it the case can become international child abduction.

Sole custody compared with joint parental power

Joint parental power leaves both parents with a veto on major matters. Neither can change the child’s school or take the child to live abroad without the other. Sole parental power removes that veto, which is why relocating parents seek it. It does not end the other parent’s rights entirely: Section 1584/1 preserves contact with the child, and the duty to pay maintenance under Section 1564 continues whoever holds parental power.

Courts grant sole parental power readily where the other parent is absent, violent, addicted or has abandoned the child, and reluctantly where both parents are capable and merely in conflict. There the usual outcome is joint parental power with a defined schedule of contact.

คำถามที่พบบ่อย

ดูเพิ่มเติม: อำนาจของผู้ปกครอง, สิทธิ์ในการเยี่ยมเยียน, travel consent letter, ศาลเยาวชนและครอบครัว, และคู่มือฉบับเต็มสำหรับ สิทธิในการดูแลบุตรในประเทศไทย และ การลักพาตัวเด็กในประเทศไทย.