In Thailand, when a couple decide to divorce or to live separately, it comes to the issue of child custody. According to Section 1520 of Thai Civil and Commercial Code, “In case of divorce by mutual consent, the spouses shall make an agreement in writing for the exercise of parental power over each of the children. In the absence of such agreement or an agreement thereon cannot be reached, the matter shall be decided by the Court”. In other words, the child custody can be either in written in the divorce agreement about who will have the right of child custody or decided by the Thai Family Court.[1] The agreement can also include the visitation of the child and the child support. However, in order for the agreement on the child custody to be valid, it has to be signed by two witnesses and registered with the district office at the time of registering the divorce.
在泰國，當一對夫妻決定離婚或分居時，就會涉及孩子監護權的問題。根據《泰國民商法》第1520條規定，「如果雙方同意離婚，配偶雙方應就對每個子女行使父母權力達成書面協議。沒有此類協議或無法達成一致的，此事應由法院裁決」。換句話說，孩子的監護權可以在離婚協議書面約定誰擁有孩子的監護權，也可以由泰國家庭法院決定。該協議還可以包括孩子的探視權和孩子的撫養費。然而，為了使子女監護權協議有效，必須由兩名見證人簽署，並在登記離婚時向區政府登記。
If the child custody is written in a divorce agreement, the divorce agreement must specify who will be the custodian of the child. Please highly note that it is a must to specify and clearly state under the Divorce Agreement regarding who will be the “Custodian of the child”. Because if the phrase “…after the divorce, the father will take care of the child…” is used, it is unclear who has custody. In this case, custody of the child will remain with both parties (referencing Supreme Court Order No. 2565/2536).
如果離婚協議有說明子女監護權，離婚協議必須明確指出誰是孩子的監護人。請高度注意，離婚協議必須明確規定誰將成為「孩子的監護人」。因為如果用「…離婚後，孩子由父親照顧…」的話，就不清楚誰有監護權。在這種情況下，孩子的監護權仍歸雙方所有(參考最高法院第 2565/2536 號命令)。
The following are the custodial rights:
以下為監護權：
Ø To determine the place of residence of the child.
確定孩子的居住地
Ø To give due discipline to the child.
給予孩子適當的管教
Ø To require the child to work within his ability and status.
要求孩子在其能力和地位範圍內工作
Ø To demand a party, a parent or otherwise, who does not have custody or is unlawfully detaining the child to return him.
要求無監護權或非法扣留兒童的一方、父母或其他人歸還兒童
Ø To manage the properties of the child but activities such as selling, mortgaging and exchanging the property may only be permitted after approval from the court has been obtained.
管理孩子的財產，但出售、抵押和交換財產等活動只有在獲得法院批准後才可以進行
Child custody in Thailand can be obtained by two procedures as follows:
在泰國可以透過以下兩種程序獲得兒童監護權：
1. By the mutual consent of the parties
經雙方同意
2. By the decision of the court
根據法院的決定
On the other hand, when the divorce is filed to the Thai Family Court, the court should decide who should be the custodian of the minor child. There are 8 factors the court will consider for child custody as follows:
另一方面，當向泰國家庭法院提出離婚時，法院應決定誰應成為未成年子女的監護人。法庭會考慮以下 8 個因素來決定孩子的監護權：
Factor 1: The baby need mother
因素1:嬰兒需要母親
The Thai Family Court usually let the mother to have child custody when the child is still a baby, who needs to be breast-feed. Also, if the child is a girl, the court will let the mother to have the child custody as well. In addition, a mother has more dedication and subtlety. This is what the court will consider in order to give the custodian of the child.
If an unmarried couple has a child born out of wedlock, only the mother of the child will have the sole right to care for the child. For more information on child custody for unmarried couple in Thailand, please kindly prefer to this article: < https://0rz.tw/u7s60 >.
泰國家庭法院通常在孩子或嬰兒、需要哺乳時讓母親擁有孩子的監護權。此外，如果孩子是女孩，法院也會讓母親擁有孩子的監護權。除此之外，母親還有更多的奉獻和細膩。這是法院在給予孩子監護人時會考慮的因素。
如果未婚夫婦有非婚生孩子，只有孩子的母親才有唯一的監護權。有關泰國未婚下的子女監護權，請參考這篇文章:< https://0rz.tw/u7s60 >。
* The Thai Family Court will not consider who is richer to make the decision on who should have the child custody
泰國家庭法院不會考慮誰更富有來決定誰應該擁有孩子的監護權
Factor 2: Continuation of care for child custody
因素2：繼續照顧兒童監護權
The court will not move the minor child from the current resident, unless there is a necessary reason, for example, one party is alcoholism, which may cause problem to the child.
法院不會將未成年子女離開目前的居民環境，除非有必要的理由，例如一方酗酒，可能會給孩子帶來問題。
Case Example:
案例:
Ø The child living with mother around 8 years.
與母親同住的孩子8歲左右
Ø The mother is a rice famer and received less income.
母親是稻農，收入較少
Ø The father is engineer in Japan and have more stable income.
父親在日本是工程師，收入較穩定。
In this case the Thai Court ordered to let the mother have the continuation of care to the minor child.
在本案中，泰國法院下令讓母親繼續照顧未成年子女。
Factor 3: Keep the children together
因素3：讓孩子在一起
Normally, the court will not separate the siblings, because they can support each other and keep them in better mental condition.
一般情況下，法庭不會拆散兄弟姊妹，因為他(她)們可以互相支持，保持更好的精神狀態。
Factor 4: Children’s decision
因素4：孩子的決定
The court can ask the minor child whether they want to stay with the mother or the father. In addition, if the child is more than 14 years old, the court must follow the child’s decision. So, if the child is quite young, the court will not pay intention to their statement or decision.
法院可以詢問未成年子女是否願意與母親或父親住在一起。此外，如果孩子超過14歲，法院必須遵循孩子的決定。因此，如果孩子還很小，法院不會考慮他(她)們的陳述或決定。
Factor 5: Ability to provide better education for academic, profession, religion, moral and intellectual development to the minor child at school and at home.
因素5：有能力在學校和家庭為未成年子女提供更好的學術、職業、宗教、道德和智力發展教育
The court will consider which party has more capability to provide such education to minor child.
法院將考慮哪一方更有能力為未成年子女提供此類教育。
Case Example:
案例:
Ø The Defendant always be suspicious that the Plaintiff adultery.
被告始終懷疑原告通姦
Ø The Defendant beat the Plaintiff and always drink beer.
被告毆打原告並一直喝啤酒
In this case, the court ordered to let the Plaintiff have the sole custodian of the minor child.
在本案中，法院下令讓原告擁有未成年子女的唯一監護人。
Factor 6: Ability to provide accommodation, food, clothes and medical care to the minor child.
因素6：有能力為未成年子女提供住宿、食物、衣服和醫療服務
The court will consider the party who will pay attention to the children. Hence, if the child is still young and needs support from the custodian party, the court will consider with who has more time and who can support the minor child for accommodation, food, clothes and medical care to the minor child.
法院將考慮由誰來照顧孩子。因此，如果孩子還小，需要監護人的贍養，法院會考慮誰有更多的時間，誰可以贍養未成年子女的住宿、食物、衣服和醫療照護。
Case Example
案例:
Ø The mother goes out to work and leave the minor child with the grandparents. And leave the minor child hungry, wear dirty clothes, and has no time to take care of the child.
母親外出工作，將未成年的孩子留給祖父母。而且讓未成年的孩子挨餓，穿髒衣服，沒有時間照顧孩子。
Ø The father is working with government and has sufficient and stable income and the father deposits money to the minor child ‘s bank account for their savings.
父親在政府單位工作，有充足且穩定的收入，父親將錢存入未成年子女的銀行帳戶作為儲蓄。
In this case, the court order will let the father to have the right on custodian over the minor child. And if the child is a boy, the court usually let father to take care of the child. But before considering whether the father should exercise custody rights over the child, the child must be registered as his lawful child according to the laws. To ensure compliance with child laws in Thailand, the father must register the child's legitimacy with the district office.
在這種情況下，法院命令將對未成年子女的監護權判給父親。而如果孩子是男孩，法院通常會讓父親照顧孩子。但在考慮父親是否應該對孩子行使監護權之前，孩子必須依法登記為父親的合法子女。為了確保遵守泰國的兒童法，父親必須向地區辦公室登記孩子的合法性。
Factor 7: Existing environment.
因素7：現有環境
The court will consider if there is a change of the environment of the children, whether it will cause effect to the children. The changes includes the change of school, friends, and the visitation of relatives. If the minor child is happy with the existing school and environment, the court will not change it.
法院會考慮孩子的環境是否會發生變化，是否會對孩子造成影響。這些改變包括學校的改變、朋友的改變、親戚的探訪。如果未成年子女對現有學校和環境感到滿意，法院不會改變。
Factor 8: Love, affection, and emotion between the minor child and each party.
因素8：未成年子女與各方之間的愛、感情和情感。
The court needs to consider the illustration from the previous relationship who used to take care of the minor children with love and affection. If it appears that one party treats the child with emotional or physical abuse, and always abuses the right of the child, the court will not let this person to have the right of custodian over the child.
法院需要考慮以前關係中的例子，他們曾經用愛和感情照顧未成年子女。如果一方似乎對兒童進行精神或身體虐待，並且總是濫用兒童的權利，法院將不會讓此人擁有兒童的監護權。
In case each party has different religion, the Thai Family Court will not consider such matter in making the decision on the custody of the child. Unless, it affects the happiness and welfare of the child. Because our culture believes that all religions have the same intention to teach people to be good a person.
如果雙方有不同的宗教信仰，泰國家庭法院在做出孩子監護權的決定時不會考慮此類問題。除非，這影響孩子的幸福和福祉。因為我們的文化相信所有宗教都有相同的意圖，教導人們做好人。
Furthermore, even if one party has the sole custody or both parties have join custody, the court can change the custodian person anytime if the fact and circumstance the court has considered has changed, and cause negative effect to the minor children.
此外，即使一方單獨監護或雙方共同監護，如果法院認定的事實和情況發生變化，並對未成年子女造成負面影響，法院可以隨時更換監護人。
According to Section 1521 of Thai Civil and Commercial Court,“If it appears that the person exercising parental power of the guardian under Section 1520 behaves himself or herself improperly or there is a change of circumstance after the appointment, the Court has the power to give an order appointing a new guardian by taking into consideration the happiness and interest of the child”.
根據泰國民商法院第 1521 條，「如果根據第 1520 條行使監護人親權的人行為不當或指定後情況發生變化，法院有權給予考慮到孩子的幸福和利益指定新監護人的命令」。
[1] The judge may appoint a third party as a guardian in place of the parents if such order is deemed to be for the happiness and benefit of the child.
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