Spousal Support

Spousal Support in Thailand

Spousal support is not mandatory in Thailand. There is no law which obligates the giving of spousal support, or one which dictates the amount to be given after the divorce is granted.

However, recent jurisprudence supports the giving of spousal support if the erring spouse (and eventually the paying spouse) is the only reason of the collapse of the marriage. When spousal support is contemplated to be part of a divorce agreement or a court grant, the following are the usual guidelines or determinants on how much spousal support in Thailand can be given:

• the length of the marriage
• the age of the receiving spouse
• the probability of re-marriage of the receiving spouse
• the health of the receiving spouse
• the educational attainment of the receiving spouse
• the current employment of the receiving spouse, if any
• the receiving spouse’s possibility of being employed in the future
• the lifestyle that the receiving spouse has been accustomed to
• the present financial capacity of the paying spouse
• the future or expected financial condition of the paying spouse

(The above are simply guidelines on how much can be considered as reasonable spousal support)

Child Support in Thailand

Unlike spousal support, child support in Thailand is mandatory. Thai law even prohibits parties from drawing an agreement where one or both parties is exempted to pay child support in case of a divorce.

The following are determining factors on how much child support should be given after the divorce is granted:

• the age of the children;
• the education of the children;
• the health of the children;
• the lifestyle to which the children are accustomed to;
• the financial capacity of each parent.