Marriage in Thailand

Yours and her assets would be split  depending on length of the marriage and how good your lawyer is , even living together unmarried entitless her to rights similar to marriage rights ,simply dont tell her about it then she cant use ot against you later. Thais have a saying "Thai rak Thai",  Thais love thai and that is reflected in police and court issues, legal and civil,  All courts will be biased in her favour. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
The courts are unable to seize your assetts outside thailand but they may award her everything you own in Thailand
If she is aware you have substantialasset outside of Thailand , murder is not an unusual occurance against rich foreigners.
Good luck
Terry

I wouldn’t worry about the whole murder and the foreigner is always wrong nonsense.  I highly suspect you are not marrying the kind of woman who would have the power, influence and general wherewithal to attempt a grab of your foreign assets.  Just don’t tell here what you don’t want her to know and if you are really worried have the ceremony but don’t register the marriage.  Don’t give here anything and then expect to get it back later when you are at each other’s throats.  Good luck, as it sounds like true love.

thanks

You are correct to safeguard your own safety net regardless of the status of the woman or the basis of your relationship. Things take time to grow and like most humans mistakes will be made but I would not hold your breath for some on here to even admit that.

I assume you have heard or read many a tale of woe and you are simply listening to your own fears and trying to apply some logic to protect the very thing that likely got you here in the first place.

It's a common issue and one that needs careful planning so my only advice is; never rush.

Yes, thankyou

Try telling that to the farang in hua hin who was taken to yasathon by his new wife and murdered for his wealth. Dosent happen often  but there are hundreds of wealthy foreigners missing in Thailand and the new wives dont wish to discuss it . You dont need influence you need a niave boy who needs 10,000 bt for a motorbike.

I’m not sure fear mongering is very productive when all you need is a modicum of common sense.  We have all heard of people who die in their sleep but I don’t know anyone who is willing to give up sleep after hearing such tales.  The fact the OP is asking thoughtful questions suggests he isn’t in danger of marrying a homicidal maniac any time soon.

Common sense and thailand do not belong in the same sentence in many respects so whilst it may read well that advice IMO does not bode well.

Traffic issues are normally caused by a lack of consideration for other road users. Example: parking or stopping by a shop obstructing other road users and on the other foot if you find a safe parking spot outside a shop you risk the wrath of the shop or shop beside it for parking there and not being a patron of the shop. Walking a little bit is too much trouble for some people and indicates a lazy attitude.

Prostitution in thailand has been going on for a very long time and the truth is the idea of prostitution was likely born from the sin sod culture. What really is the difference and do you blame the development of such an industry when the traditional values have a very similar basis.

When you hear of Virgin teenage girls losing their virginity you sometimes hear a development to that story suggesting the male must pay for that "privelage" retrospectively or risk feuds or even rape claims.

Common sense in the west suggests you plan for your future and your children's future but in thailand that idea has been misunderstood by some who believe you must support your family at all costs because they are your family. It's a strange place with very little common sense applied.

You can avoid all the gogo bars and tourist hotspots and still fall into a heap of trouble and the only reason needed to fall is because you are not thai.

More examples:

Postal worker waits outside bibbing horn for 5 minutes waiting for wife to come out. She comes out, he drives off.

Parking car in car park yesterday and two cars are waiting patiently whilst wife parks. Car next to us (unbeknown to us) keeps bibbing. Cars engine not even turned on lights are not on, zero indication they were trying to move, did not help they had ultra tinted windows so no one even knew the car was occupied and I thought the bibbing party was one of the two cars and the guy in front of the other assumed it was the guy behind him. When the little rude car pulled off we all looked at each laughing as even when this fool drove off they  did not indicate to anyone.

If there was one phrase that I think does not apply in thailand as a westerner it is common sense. Common sense to a westerner is a completely different meaning to many thai people. World's apart.

I guess we have different definitions for common sense.  For me it doesn’t mean people doing what you want them to do or what you expect based on the customs of the place you come from but they know nothing about.

Common sense is looking around and gauging the circumstances you find yourself in and acting accordingly.  For me that does not include making lists of grievances or expecting the weather to change because you want it to.  For me it is common sense to carry an umbrella, not to scream at the sky.

When people tell me they got in trouble for simply being a farang and through no fault of their own, I am very reluctant to believe them.  Usually all it takes is one look at their behavior, attitude, environment and companions to ascertain the likely reasons for their problems.  Some of us go through life without this cloud of doom which floats over the heads of some.  There are usually some very simple reasons for this and one of them is common sense, not an expectation of conformity from others.

Cant say for the U.K, But for us Danish people when we get legal married in Thailand.
We all so legal married in Denmark, And therefor my Thai wife have same Right as if i was married in Denmark to a Danish women.

A good friend got Married befor i move to Thailand and because he have (Still do) a Company in Denmark, He use a prenuptial that make hes company and any profit from it after they got married hes.

Importend to have the profit from it after Married all so in it, Or she can get a clam from the profit from the day they Married.

In Denmark a prenuptial have to be in English & Thai to make sure the Thai wife can understand it.

They got divorced in 2015 and even so hes (X) Wife didn't have much school and education, She (and her family) did try to get hands on hes company & money, But lucky for him he have the prenuptial and the legal system in Denmark follow the law.

If you own anything in Thailand like condo or so, And you want to protect that, You need a prenuptial here in Thailand for that.

As my wife in the future going to get a lot when her Dad is no more here, I have offer to sign a prenuptial here in Thailand, Where i don´t get anything, Because we Married here in Thailand, By Thai law, 50% of what my wife is going to inherit one day is mine.
But my wife and her family say NO, No need to do that, I am family.

Kindly.

Hello Richard,
As the other people have said your money is safe. But if you really want attract the right Thai woman for a long term relationship. Here are a few tips that might interest you.
1. There is a book called THAI FEVER, it give you a fairly balanced view of Thai women their culture.
2. If you dress like a million dollars, then naturally you are going attract the gold diggers. Dress down to nice and casual.
3. Never carry lots of money with you, no more than say 5,000 BHT. Even then I would only keep part of that in my wallet.
4. Set yourself an allowance per month and stick to it .
5. Being generous is seen as a positive thing, but do not over do it.
6. If you decide to by a car for example, do not pay for it in cash. Put a deposit on it and make monthly repayments. The car will more than likely be in her name anyway. So if you do decide to split with the future Mrs she will have come up with monthly payments not you.
Now let's get of the money side of the things.
1. You cannot put all Thai women into the same basket and say that all they are after is your money or numerous other bad things that farangs will come up with put Thais' down.
2. You need to understand that you are dealing with different culture, language, whether she comes from a rich, middle class or poor family.
3. Getting to know the family is very important, sometimes they can be your biggest asset or a complete liability to your relationship.
4. Divide your age and add 7 is about right to when it comes to having a relationship with a Thai woman.
5. You need to understand you are coming into their life and their way of doing things. So you to be more understanding, flexible and patient.
6. You treat with respect and compassion, then you will get it back in spades.
There are many reasons why relationships here fail.
1. It is not always the Thai women's fault as a lot of farang claim. It is alway very easy to blame others for things going wrong in a relationship. I would put it more a 50/50 ratio.
If you spend most of your time drinking with your mates in the bars and chasing the local  skirt around when you are drunk. Or come home shitfaced and abuse the Mrs, the woman is not going take that ever. Not only will you have to contend with her, but you will also have to contend with family as well.
Some men really do treat their wives or girlfriends really badly and they do not deserve that.
Unfortunately in Thai society it is the woman who gets the blame if the relationship goes wrong.
If you really want a good Thai woman, get to know Thai women who are already in a relationship farang. If they think that you are good man then will know a good woman for you.
I hope that this gives you something to think about.

Some good advice.

You said - divide your age and add 7, divide by what.

VF - With your 20 or so years in Thailand, your Thai wife, and your speaking Thai you seem to have precursors to your comments. You make some informative contributions but at times your point of reference, your age or a different time frame, at times are outside the referent points of a younger and not as experienced person. I too forget at times my age dictates some of my content, which may not apply to all viewers. Just a little footnote.

You divide your by two and then add seven. Sorry for that

My 40+ years living in Thailand, 20 joyously single and 20 happily married, as well as my breadth of experience and ability with the Thai language do indeed place me well outside the norm.  I do not mean to present myself as the norm but as a counter balance to those on the opposite end of the spectrum who spew such hatred and vitriol.  I did not have the assistance of the internet but I did have the luxury of curiosity, time and youth to find my way in Thailand.  I simply represent what life in Thailand can be and perhaps someone will say to himself, if he can be happy here maybe I can too.

Common Sense in any form or understanding is normally derived from experience and the experience/knowledge gained normally evolved from mistakes which we learn from.

What I find extremely hard to believe is someone jumps off a plane 30 years ago and cannot identify their learning experiences and believes it was always there without any hint of a learning curve or examples as a basis of their learning and the first sign of a problem we look at the individuals own choices as a means of pointing the finger as opposed to the actual issue they have found themselves in.

Not being able to identify a learning a curve or experiences which helped you adjust or learn and applying a "common sense" term looks like a massive devaluation of the learning achieved.

I believe it's called the shallow end and after 30 years that's criminal.

Not everyone suffers in life or makes bad choices.  That is not the only way to learn.  I treat every life experience as a positive learning opportunity.  On my own in Thailand at a very young age I never really considered making mistakes as an option.  I knew there was no one to bail me out if I got in trouble so I made very careful choices.

It is a bit off topic but when I was young I volunteered at a drug clinic where encounter groups where used to delve into the motivations for drug use among the participants.  Many hours were spent trying to break me down and figure out why I didn’t succumb when everyone else found it so difficult not to.  I am sure some were unconvinced by my responses back then, like you are today.

I know I cannot please everyone but I do know I have helped some and that is enough for me.  As recently as this last Monday I met someone who thanked me for my help years ago.  During the course of our group conversation over Christmas lunch, it occurred to him that he might actually know me and asked if I had a blog.  It turns out we did correspond years ago when I was actively blogging and I was quite moved by his response to meeting me.  It ended up one of the other guys in the group knew my blog title as well, once it came out. 

I will not apologize for being who I am.

Excuse me for saying this  - but I will. One complaint that I have with communication in this form is that there are some components of communication that are missing. Those being tonal or voice quality, eye contact, and body language. These are three components that help complete the process of communication and they are missing with email. Face to face discussion include these which help give a fuller understanding to both the speaker and listener. Tonal quality alone could make a message sweet or sour.

My additional thought is that vitriol should be kept out of the discussion. I too deplore ignorance. I also like working on my on going learning curve and enjoy learning.

Recently I had a luncheon date, just lunch not a date, with a man who had been in Chiang Mai maybe a month. At one point he turned to me and said that he was bored and had seen everything, what about me. I said that I see something new every day and enjoy it. I just came back from a quick trip to Tesco. I stood in the front of Tesco and simply enjoyed watching the Thai people and the friendliness of the neighborhood.

As difficult as it is let's keep the vitriol on the side lines.

Hello Bill,
I completely agree with you, there is nothing more enjoyable than a good discussion over a coffee or a beer. It is the human side of Chiang Rai that does it me.

For someone to come online and publish that they have never made a mistake is a mistake in itself. You do not need to suffer or be unhappy to tell the truth and you can pretend your as happy as larry and continue lying to yourself but eventually reality catches up with us all. The thing about people that come online and claim being happy and content is it is in the same league as people who boast about money and have none, a show. If I had something valuable like happiness I certainly would not take it for granted and boast about it.

I am still not going to apologize for the life I have lived. 

You don’t need to be in accidents to be a good driver. You don’t need to be divorced to know how to be in a great marriage. Mistakes are not to be worn like a badge of honor, in my opinion.

Well said, people should be asking how you do it, not trying to put you down.

Richard
Terry is much closer to the truth just look at what happened to Colin Vard and the ongoing case of Ian Rance plus Jonathon Head BBC Reporter (now dropped after a year)) for reporting it. Having also suffered and finally got out of the place via an unofficial border I can tell you, money is everything and I mean everything. Unexplained death or suicide as its called happens very often as a Farang that is all you get and no justice.

Keep everything out of reach and out of their mind and you may have a chance.

I did get one thing which is the best from the country and that is the wife and even she says now she will not go back after defending me and seeing the lies that where told trying to extort £220.000 from us.

When a Thai says it bad it is.

Some on here in a village either live in a cocoon or are thai that is very blatant.

Just put Ian Rance and or Colin Vard into any computer via Google search and you have the truth.

That is how it is and its getting worse

Be Very Careful ,keep assets away from one and all to be safe.

Neveragain

One more thing never marry a bar girl ever and to highlight this and we have seen it many times A friend we made out there married a bar girl I married a doctor, We got the visa easy for my wife to come to the UK, but our friend after 3 attempts did not, so his wife said by to him and went back to work as a bar girl in Samui and said on her facebook recently she was looking for a new Farang with money to take her away from the place.

The guy she had owned his own flat in London (paid for) and had an income of £47.000+ a year so had all the assets needed except he married a bar girl. That is fact.

Seen this happen a few times

Neveragain

Wow, has it really been four months?  How time flies. 

Me I thought much longer, how are you Mr Farang, trust you are well and living the good life in a village that is cut off from the rest of the country, where life is always perfect. You should work for the church mate.

Yes, thank you, I am well and continuing to live the good life while enjoying married life here in the Rai.  Funny you should mention religion as that is one of my secrets to happiness.  I avoid religion, politics, children, debtors, and limit my exposure to farangs to online or spontaneous social encounters.

Living in Bangkok for thirty years the airport was roughly an hour away and I still find myself an hour from the airport here in Chiang Rai, so I don’t feel very cut off.  Besides, all the people I like in Bangkok come visit us here.

Richard1977 wrote:

Can anyone let me know if I was to marry a Thai woman in Thailand and we stayed in Thailand and didn't live back in the U.K. She would not be entitled to anything outside Thailand in a divorce. I have a asset in the Caribbean that creates my income, would this be safe as it was premarital and am I right in thinking that only assets bought during the marriage could be touched in the case of a divorce.

Hi Richard,
You may want to consult an attorney to understand the "rule of law" in Thailand. I assume that what you're thinking is probably correct, that assets owned before marriage is separate property especially if outside of Thailand and whatever is bought during the marriage would probably be considered community property.

If you find out differently, please private message me, I would certainly like to know.
Kindly, Zeus

I have said this before, elsewhere, and I'll say it again. Thai marriage is under the category of business law. Does that bring to mind anything?

I think Richard1977, has all the advice he needs.

Marriage, in my opinion, should be about love, trust, understanding, shared goals for a life together and reasonable expectations.  I have only been married this once and I certainly haven’t approached the last 20 years as a business transaction.  Whatever happened to love and romance?

In the UK, US and I suspect most other Western countries once married assets are considered jointly owned (sometimes even if there is a pre-nuptial agreement) - so what's the problem here. There are gold diggers everywhere. Marry when you feel both of you are in love - expect to live with each other forever - expect that forever can be for less than the rest of your life. Divorce amicably - split all assets evenly - and start again. Less cost for solicitors etc - the real thieves.
Just my twopennorth.

From someone who has gone thru divorce in the US using an attorney, in most states, assets owned prior to marriage ARE NOT community property as long as they are not comingled and ONLY assets acquired during the marriage are considered community property. As I stated before, Richard should consult an attorney in Thailand regarding the "Rule of Law" in Thailand if he really wants to know...

I married a sweet Thai lady last year after a 3 year relationship and didn't give the financial issues one thought... I have a legal "WILL" which spells out what she gets and what my children get once I pass away and everyone is happy with the situation. All of my assets are in the US and out of reach from foreign shysters.

Kindly...