Section 1533: Marital property divided equally

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 566/2556 (2013)

   A property settlement agreement on divorce requires no special form beyond general contract requirements and may be made separately from the divorce registration.

   A property division agreement between spouses may be made at the time of registering the divorce (with or without the registrar's note) or separately in writing; no specific form is required beyond general contract law.

   Read the full decision (deka.in.th)

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 960/2552 (2009)

   Where the divorce record contains no agreement dividing the Sin Somros, section 1533 applies and the property itself is divided equally, each spouse taking a half share as co-owner. Under section 1361 a co-owner may dispose of his own share, but the thing itself may be disposed of only with the consent of every co-owner. A spouse who sells the whole without the other consent passes only his own half, even to a purchaser in good faith and for value, so purchaser and former spouse hold as co-owners in equal shares throughout the property. The purchaser cannot evict the former spouse; she may have the sale set aside as to her share, and where that share cannot be transferred, purchaser and seller are jointly liable to pay its value.

   A husband and wife bought land and a townhouse during the marriage, subject to instalments and a mortgage. The note on the back of the divorce register said only that if the instalments were paid off the property would be given to the wife. In 1997, before the instalments were finished and without her consent, the husband sold the whole property to his sister for 2,000,000 baht, and the purchaser sued to evict the wife. The Supreme Court held the note contained nothing giving the husband the whole property; with no agreement dividing the Sin Somros, section 1533 required equal division, so the purchaser acquired only the husband half share. Under section 1361 the thing itself could be sold only with every co-owner consent, so the sale bound only his share and purchaser and wife hold in equal shares throughout. The purchaser could not evict her; she could have the sale set aside as to her share and, that share not being transferable, purchaser and husband were jointly liable for its value of 1,000,000 baht. That the purchaser had borrowed to pay the price was a matter between her and the seller.

   Read the full decision (deka.in.th)

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.