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Love, sweetheart, we have been together for a long time, registered our marriage, held a grand ceremony, people always knew that this love was between the two of us. Who would have thought that one day our love would break and fall apart, to the point where we could not live together? It would be better to just get a divorce.
Consulting with experts, all of them gave the same answer: what kind of divorce should we do? Consent to divorce or sue? So let's learn a little bit about divorce according to Thai law, so that we can be experts like them.
Grounds for divorce according to Section 1516 of the Civil and Commercial Code
💔 1. Section 1516 (1) A husband or wife supports or honors another person as his wife or husband, is an adulterer or has an affair, or has sexual intercourse with another person regularly, the other party can file for divorce.
Supporting another person as a husband or wife means providing assistance to another person in matters necessary for living, such as providing money for spending, providing consumer goods, etc., without limiting the length of time that support must be provided. This support must include support for another person as a husband or wife, not support in any other capacity.
Honoring another person as a husband or wife means openly showing to the public that the other person is one's husband or wife.
Adultery means voluntarily having sexual intercourse with another person's spouse while knowing that he or she already has a spouse (used for men).
Adultery means voluntarily having sexual intercourse with another person (used for women).
💔 2. Section 1516 (2) If a husband or wife commits misconduct, regardless of whether such misconduct is a criminal offense or not, if it causes the other spouse to suffer severe humiliation or be despised or hated because of continuing to be the husband or wife of the party committing the misconduct, or suffers excessive damage or distress, when taking into account the status and cohabitation as husband and wife, the other spouse may sue for divorce.
Misconduct means conduct that violates morality or tradition, which a reasonable person feels is incorrect, regardless of whether it is a criminal offense or not. However, such misconduct must cause the other spouse to suffer severe humiliation, be despised or hated, or suffer excessive damage or distress. This standard is based on the feelings of the spouses themselves, not on the feelings of reasonable people.
💔 3. Section 1516 (3) A husband or wife physically or mentally harms or tortures the other party or the other party's parents. However, if it is serious, the other party can file for divorce.
There must be an act, either by the spouse or against the parents. Parents mean father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandmother, and based on the truth. The acts that can be filed for divorce are as follows:
Physical or mental harm means intentionally causing harm to the body or mind. To be a reason for divorce, it must have reached the stage of committing the offense. If it is an attempt, it does not meet (3), or if it is an act of negligence, even if it causes serious harm, it cannot be used as a reason for filing for divorce. Because to be able to claim this reason, it must be an act of intent.
Torture means intentionally causing hardship to the body and mind. However, if the act may be harmful in itself, whether the perpetrator has the intention or not It is not essential that the act be considered torture, such as a husband suffering from a sexual disorder who must cause pain to his wife before having sex, or a husband with a higher sexual desire than normal, the husband forces him to have sex (Supreme Court Decision No. 8611/2557), etc.
Defamation means slandering someone to damage their reputation, to be despised, to be hated by showing any factual behavior of the spouse or the parents of the other spouse, which even if it is true, is still defamation.
Insult means causing shame, damage, looking down on, insulting, cursing, or showing behavior that makes others look inferior to oneself.
💔 4. Section 1516 (4) If a husband or wife intentionally abandons the other for more than one year, the other party can file for divorce.
The term “abandonment” must consist of two criteria: one, the husband and wife must live apart from each other without any further contact. In addition, there must be an intention to separate from the spouse. And two, this abandonment must have been ongoing until the day the case is filed.
💔 5. Section 1516 (4/1) If a husband or wife has been sentenced to imprisonment by a final judgment and has been imprisoned for more than one year for an offense in which the other party did not contribute to the offense or consent to or acquiesce in the offense, and continuing to be husband and wife will cause the other party to suffer excessive damage or hardship, the other party can file for divorce.
The grounds for divorce under this section are a final judgment of imprisonment. In principle, being sentenced to imprisonment by the court is already considered a misconduct. However, the law also stipulates this section to prevent loopholes from occurring.
💔 6. Section 1516 (4/2) A husband and wife voluntarily separate because they cannot live together peacefully for more than three years, or have separated by court order for more than three years, either party can file for divorce.
First, the husband and wife voluntarily separate because they cannot live together peacefully for more than three years, such as quarreling, beating, etc. If one party leaves by themselves without the other party's consent, this cannot be used as a reason for divorce. In addition, the period of separation must be continuous for more than three years. If the separation is in intervals, each interval cannot be combined. It must be continuous.
Second, the separation by court order for more than three years, either husband or wife can use this as a reason for divorce, such as the husband constantly beats his wife, the wife cannot stand it and goes to court to file for separation, the court issues an order granting temporary separation. When the separation has been more than three years, either party can file for divorce.
💔 7. Section 1516 (5) If the husband or wife is declared missing by the court or has left their place of residence or residence for more than three years without anyone knowing for sure whether they are alive or dead, the other party can sue for divorce.
💔 8. Section 1516 (6) If the husband or wife does not provide support and care to the other party as appropriate or acts in a way that is seriously hostile to being husband or wife, if such action is to the extent that the other party suffers excessively when considering the status, status, and living together as husband and wife, the other party can sue for divorce.
It is divided into two types: first, the husband or wife does not provide support and care to the other party as appropriate to the extent that it causes excessive support, that is, does not provide the necessities for living. But it must be to the extent that it causes the other party to be excessively hot for one month.
Secondly, the husband and wife act in a way that is seriously hostile to being husband or wife to the extent that the other party is excessively hot for one month, that is, an act that obstructs the man and woman from living a normal family life and may cause harm to the body, mind, health or hygiene of the other spouse, such as the wife refusing to have sex with him or the husband kicking his wife out of the house and bringing a new wife to live with him. If he just doesn't visit them, it is not considered to be an act of hostility.
💔 9. Section 1516 (7) The husband or wife has been insane for more than three years and the insanity is so incurable that they cannot live together as husband and wife anymore. The other party can file for divorce.
The grounds for divorce under this section are directly aimed at if the spouse has become insane, but the insanity must have continued for more than three years and must be a state of insanity that is so incurable that they cannot live together anymore. The reason the law uses this ground as a ground for divorce is because the law sees that husbands and wives must support each other. If they cannot support each other, they should be able to divorce. However, it cannot be done immediately. Three years must have passed so that the husband and wife can support each other to the fullest extent.
💔 10. Section 1516 (8) The husband or wife violates a written probation regarding behavior. The other party can file for divorce.
Probation means a contract not to commit a violation according to the conditions that have been agreed upon. A promise that a husband and wife make to each other that can be used as a reason for divorce must be about behavior only. This promise must be in writing and cannot be made verbally. For example, if a wife makes a promise that she will not behave in a way that violates tradition and live and serve her husband, and then he does not comply with the promise, the husband can file for divorce (Supreme Court Decision No. 2553/2526).
💔 11. Section 1516 (9) The husband or wife has a serious contagious disease that may be a danger to the other party and the disease is chronic and cannot be cured. The other party can file for divorce.
Contagious disease means a disease that can be transmitted directly or indirectly and the disease that the husband or wife has must be a serious contagious disease that cannot be cured. If there is still a cure, it is not considered a reason for divorce. Currently, only AIDS is a reason for divorce under this section.
*Note: Cancer cannot be sued for divorce because it is not a serious contagious disease. Or Covid-19, even though it is a serious contagious disease, it can be cured. It is not a reason for divorce.
💔 12. Section 1516 (10) The husband or wife has a physical condition that makes the husband or wife unable to have sex forever. The other party can file for divorce.
In this case, it only refers to the condition and organs that cause children of the man and woman to be abnormal, making them unable to have sex. But the condition of being unable to have sex must be permanent, such as the wife's vagina is blocked or the husband is shot and his reproductive organs are missing. But it does not include cases where he is sterile and cannot have children. Or if the wife has undergone surgery and has a feces bag in her abdomen, causing the husband to be disgusted and not have intercourse with her, the husband cannot file for divorce because he can still have intercourse (Supreme Court Decision No. 5144/2016)
Thank you for the great source of knowledge on Section 1516 from: Facebook page of the Ohm law
Another important issue is the time period for filing a lawsuit or the statute of limitations for filing a divorce lawsuit, which is set at 1 year from the date on which the spouse with the right to file for divorce knows or should have known the facts cited in the divorce grounds explained in Section 1516 (1), (2), (3) or (6). If the lawsuit is filed after the statute of limitations, the case will be considered time-barred, resulting in the loss of the right to file a lawsuit. However, if the divorce grounds are continuous, it is considered that the conditions of the grounds still exist and a divorce lawsuit can be filed. For example, if the husband or wife has an affair continuously, it is considered a continuous event.
“Supreme Court Decision No. 6804/2558, Civil and Commercial Code Section 1523, Paragraph One, states that when the court rules for divorce because the wife has an affair, the husband is entitled to receive compensation from the adulterer. This provision stipulates that the adulterer or the man who commits adultery with his wife must know that the woman has a husband, but still intentionally violates the husband’s rights. Therefore, he must be liable for compensation. When it appears that the second defendant knew that the first defendant was the plaintiff's wife but was still an adulterer and had sexual intercourse with the first defendant regularly, the plaintiff, who was the husband, had the right to sue the second defendant to be liable for compensation to the plaintiff. According to the Civil and Commercial Code Section 1529, the right to sue based on the grounds in Section 1516 (1) (2) (3) or (6) or Section 1523 is suspended after the expiration of one year from the date on which the claimant knew or should have known the truth that he could have claimed. This means that in the case where the grounds claimed did not occur again, the right to sue is suspended after the expiration of one year from the date on which the claimant knew or should have known the truth that he could have claimed. However, the second defendant continued to act on the grounds after the date on which the second defendant claimed that the plaintiff knew or should have known the truth that he could have claimed, which is a continuous act on the grounds. The plaintiff's right to sue is therefore not suspended. The plaintiff's case is not time-barred."
Source: THAIDEKA website https://thaideka.com/deka/6804-2558.html
*At present, Thai law has been amended in the part of the Marriage Equality Act (Civil and Commercial Code Amendment Act (No. 24) B.E. 2567). Therefore, the wording in the code has changed slightly. Previously, the words were often used as husband and wife or man and woman. However, according to the new amended code, the word will be changed to “spouse” instead.
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