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.