Section 1564: Parents' duty to maintain and educate their children
Statutory text (Thai original)
บิดามารดาจำต้องอุปการะเลี้ยงดูและให้การศึกษาตามสมควรแก่บุตรในระหว่างที่เป็นผู้เยาว์ บิดามารดาจำต้องอุปการะเลี้ยงดูบุตรซึ่งบรรลุนิติภาวะแล้ว แต่เฉพาะผู้ทุพพลภาพและหาเลี้ยงตนเองมิได้
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
The parents are bound to maintain their children and to provide proper education for them during their minority. They are bound to maintain their children of full age only when such children are disabled and unable to earn their own living.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 1564 is the source of court-ordered child-maintenance in divorce and paternity actions. Three nuances dominate practice: (1) the duty is on both parents jointly; the court can apportion the contribution by means; (2) 'maintenance' includes food, shelter, healthcare, and 'education' includes higher education when the parents' means reasonably allow; (3) the duty survives a divorce decree, courts will routinely award monthly maintenance until the child turns 20 (Thai age of majority) and longer where the child is studying full-time.
Why this matters in practice
For lawyers: when divorcing clients dispute child maintenance, the court applies a proportionality test based on each parent's income and the child's actual needs — keep records of educational and medical expenses. For clients: both parents must contribute proportionately; the parent with higher income will typically pay more. The duty applies regardless of whether you have custody.
Legislative history
Section 1564 has applied since the B.E. 2519 revision. The Marriage Equality Act (No. 24, B.E. 2567), in force 22 Jan 2025, extended the joint parental duty to all legally married couples including same-sex married parents.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 7345/2560 (2017)
Parental maintenance under §1564 runs from birth; arrears may be claimed retroactively.
A father was liable to pay maintenance from the child's birth, not merely from the date of the lawsuit; the court awarded a lump sum for arrears covering the period from birth to the date of filing, calculated at the monthly rate established by the court.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 248/2542 (1999)
The duty to maintain a child is independent of property division and cannot be set off against a parent's marital property share.
A parent's share in marital property and the duty to maintain a child are distinct obligations; the marital property share is not offset against the maintenance obligation.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 41 Supreme Court decisions (1969 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2124/2562 (2019)
- Decision 8151/2560 (2017)
- Decision 10289/2559 (2016)
- Decision 10769/2558 (2015)
- Decision 15200/2557 (2014)
- Decision 9117/2557 (2014)
- Decision 1568/2552 (2009)
- Decision 7108/2551 (2008) Post-Divorce Spousal Maintenance Continuation
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
How much child support must a parent pay after divorce in Thailand?
There is no fixed rate. Under §1564, both parents share the duty in proportion to their ability and the child's actual needs. Courts consider income, the child's school fees, medical costs, and standard of living. The paying parent's obligation continues until the child turns 20 (majority) unless the child becomes self-sufficient earlier.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1564 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil and Commercial Code (Thailand), s. 1564. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1564/ (accessed 8 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.พ.พ. มาตรา 1564 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1564/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1564/"><p>The parents are bound to maintain their children and to provide proper education for them during their minority. They are bound to maintain their children of full age only when such children are disabled and unable to earn their own living.</p><footer>Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1564 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1564/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.