Man divorces Thai wife in 60 minutes!

Here is just one more reason why we love Thailand so much. It is easy to get a divorce.

It is not hard to get an uncontested divorce in Thailand, but first let me say am not an attorney, and I am not giving legal advice.  Here is a company that provides divorce legal services in Thailand for more information.

A good friend of mine told me his experiences when getting a divorce from his Thai wife, at the local government office in Bangkok – also called the Amphur.  He said:

I recommend you allow a couple of months of “cooling off” period after separating from your wife.  This not only gives you and your wife a chance to settle down and try to work things out, but it will make both parties more able to talk and confront each other – and to go the local government office for a divorce, if need be.

The divorce at the local government office was very straightforward, if you know to avoid the following few snags.  We actually had to go to the divorce office about 3 times, before we had all the pieces together. Next time it should be a lot smoother.  (smile)

•    Witnesses:   You need to bring a non-government witness for both the husband and wife to the Amphur.  All Thais know where this office is located, in their city or area of Thailand.

•    Dual languages: The foreign husband needs to have a Thai and English speaking witness i.e. one person, speaking both Languages.  This person cannot be a government employee at the divorce office.

•    Marriage ID card: The wife needs to have her pre-marriage ID card changed to Mrs. – before the divorce process can start.  Some Thai girls may be reluctant to change their ID card to process a divorce, because the ID card and computer records will not change back to Miss after the divorce.  In other words; the Mrs.  title stays with the Thai girl on her ID card – for life.

Not sure why, but my ex-wife didn’t like the idea of Mrs. on her ID card.

•     Originals:  Bring original of all Thai marriage papers.  The government office will keep the original marriage papers and not give them back to you.  Make color copies or scan the original marriage papers if you need them – before going to the Thai government office.

The government divorce office will give you new colorful original documents declaring you are divorced.  It sure beats the dull black and white legal forms in California, USA.   But, after the divorce is complete – who really cares about the colors of the documents, right?  He-he

•    Time:  The divorce process from beginning to end – if you have all the pieces as described above – took about 1 hour.  We worked with about 3-4 government employees.

•    Fees: There were no government fees to be paid in the divorce, so it is quite a deal!  In contrast, the fee for processing a marriage (getting married) is 200 baht (about US$6.00).

•    Property:  Make sure you answer CLEARLY on the Thailand forms that there are no property settlements (car or condo etc.) in the divorce.    This may prevent legal action in the future about any property disputes.  Get your proper legal counsel if in doubt.

That is it.

If you do these steps and spend about an hour, you are a free man again!

- Dr. Smile