The Provincial Court in Buriram brokered on Wednesday a deal between a Danish man and his former Thai partner who had denied him any return of the roughly 5 mill. baht, he had invested in a house they had built together and a car, they had bought in her name.
The court ruled, that the Thai woman should transfer the car, a Honda CRV bought for 1.7 mill. baht, to the Dane. The woman had initially claimed, that the car was a gift of affection and so was the house and since it was all in her name and they were not married, he had no right to any of her assets.[That was not how the judge saw it. According to her, the hearing on Tuesday in the court made it clear that the couple had entered a common law marriage and lived together as husband and wife – although not for very long. He had transferred the funds to her bank account in steps that corresponded to the steps in payment for the car and the building phases of the house.
The judge also explained, that since the house was built on land that belonged to the Thai woman’s mother, the only alternative to a compromise would be to tear down the house and sell the used building material and sell the car and split the money – since the Danish man was entitled to 50 percent of the shared assets of the relationship. That would give him half of approximately 900.000 baht.[/FONT]The judge made no room for doubt that if the Thai woman should decide not to accept her suggestion, then she would rule in favour of the Danish man. Leaving the car to him and keep the house was a better alternative for both, she proposed.It took the accused – the former partner – surprisingly long tome to make up her mind if she preferred to continue to fight for her claim, that it was all a gift, or accept the deal offered. Eventually, she declared in tears that if the Dane would not come back and live with her, which she had hoped for, then it was OK that he got the car.The courts ruling – which was brokered into a deal before it actually became a ruling – is a significant break from the popular belief among both Thai women and foreigners in Thailand, that if the marriage has not been properly registered, then the Thai woman can walk away as the owner all of the couple’s assets registered in her name in case the relationship should break up.
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