International Family Law - Comparison and Contrast of Marriage Legalization in Thailand and the USA

This article analyzes Thai family law in relation to marriage registration for foreigners in the Kingdom of Thailand.

For those readers familiar with the English "common law" system, the idea of ​​marriage is a bit difficult to grasp at first glance. From a family law perspective, however, there are many similarities between Thailand's civil law system and a common law system like that of the US. However, a notable difference between the Thai system and the common law system is the lack of any idea of ​​a common law marriage. In countries like the United States, there are jurisdictions that recognize “common law marriage”. A "common law marriage" is essentially a court creation whereby a judge (or panel of judges) finds that a couple is legally married, notwithstanding the fact that they have not entered into or legalized their marriage.

In Thailand, both parties must appear before a registrar and register their marriage for a marriage to be considered legal. Since "common law marriage" is not legally recognized under Thai law, even a couple who openly live in the same place for an extended period of time are likely to be found legally unmarried. Furthermore, since the doctrine of justice is virtually non-existent in Thai jurisprudence, there is often no fair remedy for either party in an unregistered marriage. Therefore, notwithstanding the fact that a couple has married and been accepted as married by the community, if the unregistered marriage is dissolved, the court is unlikely to award any form of compensation to either party, given the probable existence of such a marriage would not recognize a legal marriage.

These ideas are pretty important for foreigners who want to get married in Thailand. For example, if a couple comes to Thailand and performs a marriage ceremony with all the usual ceremonies, the marriage can still be considered unregistered if the couple does not actually complete the marriage registration. This is important to note for couples from other countries, as failure to actually register a marriage may result in the couple's home country or countries not recognizing legal union.

Of potentially further interest to couples who are not Thai nationals is the difficulty of registering a divorce in Thailand when the marriage was originally legally registered but later dissolves. In Thailand it can be quite difficult to find a court that has jurisdiction over a divorce if neither spouse is registered in a tambien baan (house registration) in Thailand or if one of the foreign parties refuses to meet themselves available for personal processing in Thailand. For all of the above reasons, foreigners wishing to get married in the Kingdom of Thailand should seek legal advice prior to getting married to avoid any potential legal problems later.

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