thai wife in uk

[kevars]

any body had any experience similar to this , we got married in thailand , wife still in uk on 2 year visa , she now wants to go her own way ( after getting in with wrong crowd ) and seems to think i should be paying for every thing in her new life , my question is , does a thai marrige hold up in english law , i want to protect my assests , i know when her visa comes up for renewal i can say we are seperated , i want to try and get the ball in my court first , ahhhh thats better !

[PeteC]

any body had any experience similar to this , we got married in thailand , wife still in uk on 2 year visa , she now wants to go her own way ( after getting in with wrong crowd ) and seems to think i should be paying for every thing in her new life , my question is , does a thai marrige hold up in english law , i want to protect my assests , i know when her visa comes up for renewal i can say we are seperated , i want to try and get the ball in my court first , ahhhh thats better !

Until one of the English lads answers, I'll throw in a few comments. There is a law in Thailand that says if the marriage was registered here, it has to be terminated here.

However, this does not stop courts and judges in the USA from applying US law when it comes to a divorce. In fact, I don't think they even know or care about the Thai law.

The problem would arise if your wife would ever want to get married back here in Thailand again. At that point, her house paper would state that she is still married to you. To get out of that and allow her to register a new marriage here, she would have to get your signature or, wait 3 years if you can't be found.

Having said all that considering your current location and circumstances, if UK law is similar to US law, the divorce proceedings will be the same as if you were married to an Englishwoman and the marriage was registered in the UK. Pete

PS: Again if UK marriage visa applications are similar to the USA, you have signed an affidavit of support. This can be a killer if she knows about it and gets a lawyer to try to enforce it. I think this affidavit actually outweighs any local court ruling. The affidavit applies until the time she remarries or leaves the country permanently. Talk to a lawyer quickly.

[lomuamart]

Certainly if you're officially married in Thailand, you are under UK law as well. I'm not sure what can happen to your assets though.
I'm not certain if you have to wait the full two years to notify the authorities if you've split. I've a feeling from reading other stories that it's a condition of her Settlement Visa that you are together, so conceivably you could put a spanner in the works for her now if you were so inclined.
I'd consult a lawyer. Maybe a compromise can be reached whereby you won't "rat" on her if she dosn't ask you for anything? It's going to come to a head after the two years anyway though as she'll have to apply for ILR.

[Big Boy]

My experience goes back to when you only had to wait 1 year before you applied for the indefinite stay visa.

We knew a couple who had been married for 11 months - they weren't the best match, but we never thought there was anything really wrong with their marriage. I'll call them Bill and Daeng to retain anonymity. Daeng was desperate to get the paperwork completed to get her indefinite stay visa, but Bill always had an excuse for not doing it.

Days turned in to weeks, and still no action. One day I heard my wife getting rather excited on the phone. When she finished, she said that Daeng had a big problem and was coming to see me for help, because Bill was sending her home.

When Daeng arrived, she handed me a letter. When I looked at it, it was the final stage of divorce proceedings, stating the final court appearance was the following week. Her husband had told her that it was too late for her to do anything about it, and there was no point in her attending court - she was on her way home.

I'm now going to cut a very long story short, and tell you the result.

I arranged for a top solicitor to represent her, and the initial divorce proceedings were thrown out - it couldn't be proved, but everybody came to realise the divorce had got to where it was because Bill had been forging her signature.

It turned out that because of their short term marriage, Daeng did not really have any rights. However, the solicitor tied Bill's solicitor in knots, and Daeng ended up with compensation of 7,000 pounds and the price of a ticket home. Bill got away lightly ie he still had several hundred thousand pounds in his bank, his car, and his house.

Daeng's solicitor was good, and he arranged for her visa anyway. Daeng is now a successful restaurateur in London, and has never been back Thailand.

Bill did not learn, he has since done the exact same thing with a Filipino girl (she did not have the benefit of my assistance), and is now in the process of doing it a 3rd time.

Back to the OP, kevars, can I suggest you take the bull by the horns, and report your marriage to the authorities as being over, and take their advice on what to do next. You will probably need to engage a decent lawyer as well. As far as I know, she does not have many rights on your assets, especially as she is the one who has walked out on you.

You've really got to make the next move, and take control. Don't give her the chance to stitch you up.

A word of warning kevars - Thais stick together, and your lady will probably have friends who will help her, as I helped Daeng.

[Big Boy]

kevars,

I've been trying to think of a more recent example for you to help put your mind at ease. It just so happens that a friend who is part of a love triangle involving a Thai girl has just visited us - my friends are on the receiving side this time, but I will try not to be biased with the fact. Again I will change the names to retain anonymity.

Noi married Steve about 2 years ago in Thailand, and they duly moved to the UK. From the day they married, to the day Noi walked out on Steve (after 11 months) they never had real sex - oral is the best they had. Steve was just not interested. The next bit is hearsay, but I'll include it for completeness, Noi has claimed that Steve is gay, but needed a wife as a front to appear normal.

Noi was put in touch with my wife (we never knew either of them up until that point) as a person who could help/provide refuge (she wanted the break to be clean, not wanting her husband to know where she had gone). She stayed with us for one night (the first I knew about anything was when I returned home from work to see I had a lodger). the following day my wife got her fixed up with a 'live in' job at a local Thai restaurant.

Steve was obviously furious, and was going around threatening a lot of the Anglo/Thai community trying to find out where Noi was. To this day, Steve has never spoken to Noi face to face.

Steve then took legal advice, and was advised to make the British Embassy in Bangkok aware of the situation (you will see the relevance of this further down the posting). Divorce procedings were started.

As time went on, Noi met and fell in love with another Farang, Joe. Joe is a very wealthy man (millions), in the property development business. Eventually (Thais tend to have big mouths) Steve got to hear about the developing relationship, and the divorce procedings were amended to name Joe as the reason the relationship had broken up. I had a word with Joe, and he engaged the same solicitor that Daeng in the previous posting had used (maybe I should have asked for commission).

Now to cut the long story short again.

A couple of weeks ago, the divorce was finalised, and Noi had to return to Thailand - she did not get a single penny from her husband - no entitlement. Joe went with her with the intention of having a holiday, and then bringing her back to the UK on a fiance visa.

Joe had engaged quite a legal team (against my advice, as I said it was a waste of good money) in both the UK and Thailand. Joe came home to continue with his business while Noi waited for the visa interview. The interview at the embassy came, and Noi was refused. The reason she was refused was because of Steve's earlier notification that she had walked out on him with no good reason. Basically, despite Joe's wealth, and I do actually believe their is true, Steve taking the initiative at such an early stage has shafted his ex-wife. Obviously, an appeal has been raised.

kevars - there is an important lesson here - take charge of the situation, and get the upper hand before she shafts you first.

[Big Boy]

kevars,

I went to a Thai birthday party a couple of days ago, and another example came to light.

A Thai lady named Oiy (changed as usual) came to the party. I had never met her before. Within a few minutes she produced letter that her husband had written and signed. He had passed them to her to obtain a counter signature. She passed them around those at the party asking what they were before she added her signature.

A bit of background - Oiy has been in the UK for 22 months. Her husband told her that he needed the signatures so that he could obtain her indefinite stay visa. Her husband has purchased a property in the Pattaya area - a purchase he made using the company route.

Letter 1 - was a letter for use in the UK saying that in the event of their marriage breaking down, she would never look to claim anything from her husband - a post, pre-nuptual agreement.

Letter 2 - was to her husband's Thai lawyer (the guy who helped him set up the company) stating the same as letter 1, but asking the lawyer to produce a document that would be legally binding in Thailand.

Either Oiy was a very good actress, or she was very shocked when she was told what was contained in the letters - during a lot of sobbing that followed (great party by the way), she kept repeating that she loved him, and she thought he loved her.

We have since found out that he has already written to the Home Office stating that he does not want to apply for an Indefinite Stay visa.

It was clear that this guy was trying to cover his bases, trying to make sure that she would not have any claim on his possessions when he ended their marriage. Based on the experiences in example 1 with Bill and Daeng he has made a big mistake - please don't fall in to the same trap. If he had wanted to end the marriage, he could have done so with minimal compensation. Going behind her back in this way, a decent lawyer will make mincemeat of him, and it will cost.

Aside from the UK issue, although I've been reading all of the bun fights about the current property clampdowns (so many arguments and counter-arguments I still don't understand it), I would guess she could shaft him over the property in Pattaya. Surely, if she goes to the authorities to advise that the company is not real, she can ensure that he loses that as well.

This example is obviously still in its infancy - I will keep you advised as it develops.