Define Thai Prenup Agreement - Marriage Prenuptial Thailand

Under Thailand law the prenup commonly lists each party's personal assets at the time of marriage, and could give management of certain jointly owned marital property to one of the parties. It could also state potential division of jointly owned marital property if the marriage is later dissolved (at death or divorce). Any clause in the prenuptial agreement contrary to public order or good morals, or provided that the relations between them as regards such properties are to be governed by foreign law shall be void.

A prenuptial agreement stipulates and lists personal properties of each party taken into the marriage. When a couple decides upon divorce on ‘mutual consent’ personal property will remain with each spouse. The distribution and division of matrimonial jointly owned assets must be negotiated between the parties. When the parties cannot agree on the division (e.g. is it a joint asset or a personal asset) the parties can refer to the court in Thailand for a judgment.

How marital property is valued (as it may consist out of mix of marital and personal property) is highly complex and often at the discretion of individual Thai judges. The concept of a prenuptial agreement is rather new in Thailand therefore the legal literature on prenuptial agreements is still underdeveloped under Thai marriage laws.

Community and personal property under Thai marriage laws

Under Thai family and marriage laws personal property of each spouse remains personal property of each spouse during the marriage. If personal property has been exchanged to other property, other property has been bought or money has been acquired from selling it, such other property or money acquired shall remain personal property of that spouse.

Property acquired from income (income in the form of a salary) and fruits from personal property (any income derived there from) during the course of the marriage will become marital or jointly owned property between husband and wife (marital property means property between husband and wife pertaining to marriage or relating to marriage in Thailand). Marital or community property between husband and wife will, with some exceptions (property acquired by either spouse during marriage through a will or gift), consist out of all property acquired during the marriage, even if it is not titled in both names.

A 'common law marriage' (or a de facto marriage) or a Buddhist wedding ceremony does not create a legal marriage nor does it create duties and responsibilities as between husband and wife under Thai family law. On separation a de facto marriage relationship can't lead to any claims as to maintenance between the parties or to personal property or to property acquired during cohabitation by one of the parties based on Thai marriage laws.

If a foreigner in Thailand marries a Thai national the prenuptial contains financial arrangements with the Thai fiancée or the Thai woman who a man is engaged to be married to. The prenuptial agreement must be signed in the presence of 2 witnesses and registered together with the marriage at the local amphur where the marriage takes place (local government district office) or the Civil and Commercial Code (sections 1465 to 1493) will describe the couples marital property regime.

Customized bilingual Thai-English Pre-Nuptial agreements e-mailed directly to you within 5 business days by international lawyers for 9,800 THB.