Marriage & family
Registering a marriage, marriage equality, divorce, children, inheritance.
Marrying in Thailand as a foreigner: the amphoe register and the legalisation chain
Thai law recognises only the registered marriage: the ceremony has no legal effect, and the register can be signed at any district office (amphoe, or khet office in Bangkok) regardless of where either party lives. Since 23 January 2025 both parties must be at least 18 (Civil and Commercial Code s. 1448 as amended in 2024), neither may have an existing spouse (s. 1452), and both must declare their consent openly before the registrar (s. 1458), with two adult witnesses. Registration at the office is free; having the registrar attend a venue costs 200 baht. The foreigner's real task is the document chain. You need proof you are free to marry — for most nationalities an affirmation of marital status sworn at your embassy in Bangkok, or a certificate issued at home and attested by your own foreign ministry and the Thai mission there. It must then be translated into Thai and both original and translation legalised at the Legalization Division of the MFA Department of Consular Affairs (Chaeng Watthana, Bangkok) before a registrar will accept them. Thai missions expect the affirmation to be no older than six months; divorced or widowed applicants need the decree or death certificate through the same chain, plus a fresh affirmation. The folklore corrections: there is no residence or minimum-stay requirement — a visitor on a tourist entry can legally marry — but the translation-and-legalisation loop takes several working days, so do it before booking the amphoe.
Marriage equality: in force since 23 January 2025, and what actually changed
The Act Amending the Civil and Commercial Code (No. 24) B.E. 2567 (2024) — the marriage equality law — was published in the Royal Gazette on 24 September 2024 and took effect after 120 days, on 23 January 2025. It rewrote Book V of the Code in gender-neutral terms: marriage is now between two persons (s. 1448), husband and wife (sami/phariya) became spouse (khu somrot) throughout, and the whole spousal package follows automatically — marital property (sin somros), management rights, maintenance duties, and the surviving spouse's place as statutory heir. A transitional provision (s. 67 of the amending act) makes every other law, regulation or cabinet resolution that refers to husbands and wives apply to all registered spouses, unless a specific law sets its own family or inheritance rules. Two side effects people miss: the minimum marriage age rose from 17 to 18 for everyone (court permission still possible below that), and the 310-day remarriage waiting period now applies only to a woman remarrying a man (s. 1453) — it is about presumed paternity, not morality. Foreign same-sex couples can register at a Thai district office under the same conditions and document chain as any foreign couple; nationality is not a bar. The MFA confirmed that from 23 January 2025 Royal Thai Embassies and Consulates-General also register marriages under the amendment where local law or custom permits.
Prenuptial agreements: register it with the marriage or it is void
Thailand allows prenuptial agreements, but with one unforgiving formality: under Civil and Commercial Code s. 1466 the agreement is void unless it is entered in the marriage register at the time the marriage itself is registered — either recorded in the register or made in writing, signed by both spouses and at least two witnesses, annexed to the register with a note of the annex made at registration. There is no fixing it later: you cannot register a prenup after the wedding, and once married the terms cannot be changed or cancelled except with court permission (s. 1467). The district office's own service guide lists the prenup among documents to hand over when you register (DOPA allows 20–30 minutes for a registration, longer if a prenup is involved). What it can do: govern the couple's property relations instead of the statutory default. Without one, everything acquired during the marriage, gifts and bequests expressly given as marital property, and the fruits of personal property are sin somros (s. 1474) — and in case of doubt an asset is presumed sin somros. A prenup registered under ss. 1465–1466 is also the only way spouses can manage marital property differently from the default joint-management rules (s. 1476/1). For a mixed-nationality couple the practical advice is to prepare a Thai text (with a translation you both actually understand) before the amphoe visit, because the registrar records the Thai version.
Divorce: the amphoe route, the court route, and how marital property splits
Thailand has two divorces. If both spouses agree, they simply go to a district office with their marriage certificate, a written divorce agreement signed by at least two witnesses, and two witnesses present; the consent divorce is complete upon registration (CCC s. 1515) — no court, often same day. Custody and child support can be settled in the same written agreement (ss. 1520, 1522); if not agreed, the court decides. If one side refuses, the other must sue on a s. 1516 ground: adultery (now gender-neutral), serious misconduct, cruelty, desertion for over one year, voluntary separation for over three years, failure to maintain, incurable insanity of three years, and others. Consent or knowing acquiescence in the conduct bars the claim (s. 1517). On property: only registered spouses have sin somros. On divorce it is divided equally (s. 1533); each keeps their sin suan tua (personal property owned before marriage, plus what came by gift or inheritance to that spouse alone). For a consent divorce the pot is measured as at the date the divorce is registered; a court divorce operates retroactively to the date of filing (s. 1532), so assets cannot be quietly shifted during the case. A spouse can also claim compensation from a third party who openly carried on an affair with the other spouse (s. 1523). The folklore corrections: an unregistered couple has no sin somros at all — property built together is ordinary co-ownership, split half-half — and some foreign countries do not recognise the administrative amphoe divorce, so check with your embassy before relying on it abroad.
Children: birth registration, who gets Thai nationality, and legitimation by fathers
Every birth in Thailand must be notified to the local registrar within 15 days (a home birth is notified by the householder or a parent; late notification carries a fine of up to 1,000 baht). The child gets a Thai birth certificate whoever the parents are — but a birth certificate is not citizenship. Under the Nationality Act B.E. 2508 (1965) s. 7, a child acquires Thai nationality by birth if the father or the mother is Thai, whether born inside or outside Thailand; since the 2008 amendment 'father' includes a biological father who never married the mother, once fatherhood is proved under the ministerial procedure. Conversely, under s. 7 bis a child born in Thailand to two foreign parents who are here on temporary or irregular status does not acquire Thai nationality — being born on Thai soil is not enough. For unmarried parents, the mother is automatically the legal parent (CCC s. 1546). The father becomes the legal father only in one of three ways: by later marrying the mother, by registering legitimation (jod tabien rap-rong but) at any district office — which requires the consent of both the child and the mother, with a court judgment substituting if either cannot or will not consent — or by court judgment establishing paternity (s. 1547). Registration is free, and legitimation takes effect back to the child's date of birth (s. 1557), which matters for inheritance and for passing Thai nationality.
Wills and inheritance: statutory heirs, the spouse's half, and why a Thai will pays off
Foreigners can inherit in Thailand and can make Thai wills. When a married person dies, the marital property is divided first as if on divorce — the surviving spouse takes their own half of the sin somros — and only the deceased's half plus personal property forms the estate (CCC s. 1625). Without a will, the estate passes to statutory heirs in six classes (s. 1629): descendants; parents; full siblings; half siblings; grandparents; uncles and aunts. The surviving spouse is a statutory heir alongside them, with a share that depends on which class survives (s. 1635). The folklore correction that matters most: only a registered spouse inherits. A partner of twenty years without a marriage certificate is not an heir at all, and spouses merely separated without registering a divorce still inherit from each other (s. 1628). A will fixes all of this. The common form is a written will signed before two witnesses (s. 1656); the district office also offers an 'official document' will made before the registrar (s. 1658) for a fixed 50 baht fee, plus secret wills and safekeeping for small fixed fees — cheap insurance that also spares heirs a fight over foreign documents in a Thai probate court. Land is the exception: a foreigner who is a statutory heir may apply for the Interior Minister's permission (delegated to the Director-General of Lands or the provincial governor) to keep inherited land under Land Code s. 93, within the s. 87 ceilings (for example one rai of residential land per family); anything beyond the limits must be sold within roughly 180 days to one year.
General information, not legal advice. Laws and practice change; for a decision that matters, confirm with the authority named in the sources or a licensed professional.