Family law

How to protect yourself and your loved ones
(From an article of Dr. Carlo Filippo Ciambreli)

 A recent study carried out by Khon Kaen University, presented by Assistant Professor Kalapapruek Piwthongngam, from the Faculty of Management Science at the E-saan Centre for Business and Economic Research, has found that foreign nationals married to women from the north eastern Isaan have boosted gross domestic product in the region by almost 9 billion baht.
 Pattaya, among its many peculiarities, also holds a very "special" world-record: an overwhelming number of foreigner nationals married or living with a Thai spouse or partner, who mostly come from the north eastern region of Isaan.
Let's grab the bull by its horns: in most cases the foreign males or "Farangs", (as we call westerners here with no trace of disrespect as many wrongly think!), are attracted by younger women who, at first at least, seem to them much  sweeter and feminine then their western "counterparts". 
The ones happily married for over twenty years as the author of this article "know" what I mean...the others will possibly discover it later as in any marriage...I suppose! 
On the other hand the "Sweet Thai girls"(as we are going to call the female partners here, disregarding their age or aspect) are usually enticed and attracted to Farangs for several reasons, among which the most important is surely one: security. For themselvesand their families.
On the grounds that the majority of the sweet-girls living and working in Pattaya come from the poorest regions of the Country, it goes without saying that security mostly means investments, especially real estate investments. A house and a piece of land for their poor families are in fact the most common dreams.
Apart from the fact that buying a tractor or a garden for your, often younger then you, father in law to help a poor family should give you pure joy, let me dispel once and all (legally speaking of course) a common opinion that is very wrong: a Farang that comes here, falls in love with a girl and buys a house (maybe after a few months or even days!),some land or a car for the family, is a reckless idiot and will loose all his money because the law can't protect him, especially because he is a foreigner. In fact, nothing could be more wrong and I dare to say that  Thailand is actually one of the Countries where the strongest guarantees are offered to protect imprudent "donators".
Obviously caution is always imperative for both parts: the Farang and the Thai partner. Believe it or not, the statistics show that the girls coming from the country, especially the less educated ones, are more often victims of nasty frauds than the Farangs. 
In other words, if you wish to help your partner's family, you should not only protect yourself, but also make sure that your money won't end in the wrong hands or invested in something without proper guarantees as, in case of real estate, proper documents.
So these are the two most relevant questions here:

 1) WHAT A FOREIGN NATIONAL SHOULD DO TO PROTECT HIMSELF IN CASE OF INVESTMENTS IN FAVOUR OF HIS PARTNER 
2) HOW CAN A FOREIGN NATIONAL HELP HIS PARTNER IN AVOIDING INCAUTIOUS LAND DEALS

 To feel as the genie of the lamp is a beautiful sensation, but one day the wish could be "tirak tirak buy me a house, my family is very poor and you can use it when you want".
You might be wanting to grant such a wish, but at the same time you don't want to loose your money. What shall you do then? 
Here are your answers:
1) Never, ever pay anything in cash, but with a proper legit bank transfer indicating the reason of the operation. 
2) Ask a lawyer to prepare a contract for any kind of transaction you are going to do and Demand to have it signed and witnessed by the local Puyaibaan or Gamnàm and at least two other witnesses. 
3) Do it with love. This may look as a "non legal" advice, but it is. We are in Thailand, where tradition and law often overlap, love opens many doors and it will be seriously taken in consideration by local courts that, let me say it  without any flattering intent, are usually very just and human. 
4) If you think to live with her, legally marry her.
Let's go through all mentioned points. 
1) in Thailand the proof of payment is of paramount importance. It would be even better if the money legally comes from your own Country. A contract without proper proof of payment will be in most of the cases useless 
2) provided that you pay with a traceable bank operation, a contract properly done, in two languages which should include Thai , would cost maybe a few baht but it will avoid you many future headaches. Make no mistake, a contract in certain cases, as we will explain in our next number, might not be a full guarantee, but it helps greatly. 
3) the third point doesn't need any further explication, it will suffice to repeat and emphasize as it could have positive legal repercussions in the evaluation of a court case. At least marry her with a traditional ceremony.
4) Legal marriage guarantees to both spouses 50% of the goods purchased after the registration of the acts and details can be mentioned and specified in the marriage certificate. 
But if all this will surely protect the Farang from their partners there is an other aspect which is not less important: how to protect both Farang and spouse  from wrong, tricky or non legit investments. In our next number we will unveil in simple terms the "secrets" and essential knowledge you should acquire before investing in the beautiful, though sometimes difficult to understand country side.