Section 1635: Surviving spouse's share
Statutory text (Thai original)
ลำดับและส่วนแบ่งของคู่สมรสที่ยังมีชีวิตอยู่ในการรับมรดกของผู้ตายนั้น ให้เป็นไปดังต่อไปนี้ (๑) ถ้ามีทายาทตามมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ (๑) ซึ่งยังมีชีวิตอยู่หรือมีผู้รับมรดกแทนที่ แล้วแต่กรณี คู่สมรสที่ยังมีชีวิตอยู่นั้น มีสิทธิได้ส่วนแบ่งเสมือนหนึ่งว่าตนเป็นทายาทชั้นบุตร (๒) ถ้ามีทายาทตามมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ (๓) และทายาทนั้นยังมีชีวิตอยู่หรือมีผู้รับมรดกแทนที่ หรือถ้าไม่มีทายาทตามมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ (๑) แต่มีทายาทตามมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ (๒) แล้วแต่กรณี คู่สมรสที่ยังมีชีวิตอยู่นั้นมีสิทธิได้รับมรดกกึ่งหนึ่ง (๓) ถ้ามีทายาทตามมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ (๔) หรือ (๖) และทายาทนั้นยังมีชีวิตอยู่ หรือมีผู้รับมรดกแทนที่ หรือมีทายาทตามมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ (๕) แล้วแต่กรณี คู่สมรสที่ยังมีชีวิตอยู่ มีสิทธิได้มรดกสองส่วนในสาม (๔) ถ้าไม่มีทายาทดังที่ระบุไว้ในมาตรา ๑๖๒๙ คู่สมรสที่ยังมีชีวิตอยู่นั้นมีสิทธิได้รับมรดกทั้งหมด
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
The order and the share of the surviving spouse in the estate of the deceased are as follows:
(1) if there is an heir under Section 1629 (1) surviving, or represented as the case may be, the surviving spouse is entitled to the same share as an heir of the rank of a child;
(2) if there is an heir under Section 1629 (3) surviving, or represented, or if there is no heir under Section 1629 (1) but there is an heir under Section 1629 (2), as the case may be, the surviving spouse is entitled to one half of the estate;
(3) if there is an heir under Section 1629 (4) or (6) surviving, or represented, or an heir under Section 1629 (5), as the case may be, the surviving spouse is entitled to two thirds of the estate;
(4) if there is none of the heirs listed in Section 1629, the surviving spouse is entitled to the whole estate.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 1635 spells out the spouse's fractional share: against class 1 (descendants), spouse takes 1 share equal to one child; against class 2 (parents), spouse takes 1/2; against class 3-4 (siblings), spouse takes 1/2; against class 5-6 (grandparents/uncles), spouse takes 2/3; if no statutory heir survives, spouse takes 100%. Critical insight: this is the spouse's share AFTER the marital-property split. The surviving spouse first receives 1/2 of Sin Somros (§1474) as their own property; the deceased's 1/2 of Sin Somros plus their Sin Suan Tua is what passes under §1635.
Why this matters in practice
For lawyers: the §1635 fraction applies to the deceased's share of the estate (after liquidation of marital property under §1625). If class 1 descendants are present, the spouse takes an equal per capita share alongside the children — e.g., three children plus spouse means four equal shares. If only parents or siblings (classes 2–3) survive, the spouse takes one-half. With no heirs in classes 1–3, the spouse takes two-thirds if grandparents or uncles/aunts are present, and the entire estate if no other heir at all. Since 22 January 2025, these rules apply equally to same-sex spouses. For clients: getting married (including same-sex marriage since 22 January 2025) gives your spouse a guaranteed share of your estate even if your will tries to cut them out (see §1629 reading with §1635).
Legislative history
Part of the original Civil and Commercial Code codification; no major subsequent amendment to the quantum rules. Since 22 January 2025, the Marriage Equality Act (No. 24, B.E. 2567), in force from that date, extends the full rights of a surviving spouse under §1635 to a same-sex spouse. A same-sex surviving spouse now inherits on precisely the same terms as any other surviving spouse.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 5750/2533 (1990)
A surviving registered spouse is a statutory heir under §§1629 and 1635 and inherits alongside class 1 descendants, taking an equal share per capita with the children.
The applicant was a child of the deceased from a marriage that predated the Civil and Commercial Code Book 5 and was validly recognised under transitional provisions. The objector was a spouse who had registered marriage with the deceased under the current Code. The court held both were statutory heirs: the child as class 1 heir and the registered spouse under §§1629 and 1635.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 29 Supreme Court decisions (1948 to 2024)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 4837/2567 (2024)
- Decision 1023/2566 (2023)
- Decision 3884/2560 (2017)
- Decision 1276/2558 (2015)
- Decision 5691/2554 (2011)
- Decision 1976/2552 (2009)
- Decision 3472/2546 (2003)
- Decision 3830/2542 (1999)
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 does a surviving spouse inherit in Thailand?
Under §1635, the surviving spouse's share depends on which other heirs are present in the estate: (a) If the deceased left descendants (children, grandchildren): the spouse takes the same share as each child — e.g., two children plus spouse means three equal shares. (b) If the deceased left only parents or full/half-blood siblings (but no descendants): the spouse takes one-half of the estate. (c) If the deceased left only grandparents, uncles, or aunts: the spouse takes two-thirds. (d) If there are no other heirs: the spouse inherits the entire estate. Note: the spouse first receives their own half of joint marital property (sinsomros) before the estate is counted. Since 22 January 2025, these rules apply equally to same-sex spouses.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1635 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil and Commercial Code (Thailand), s. 1635. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1635/ (accessed 8 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.พ.พ. มาตรา 1635 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1635/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1635/"><p>The order and the share of the surviving spouse in the estate of the deceased are as follows: (1) if there is an heir under Section 1629 (1) surviving, or represented as the case may be, the surviving spouse is entitled to the same share…</p><footer>Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1635 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1635/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.