Land Gift During Marriage May Be Cancelled Rules Supreme Court
The plaintiff petitions and requests the judge to grant justice to both parties who divorced from being husband and wife, to divide the marital property into 48 items, and to give each party half. If it cannot be divided, the marital property shall be sold on the market, and the money shall be divided equally between the two. The defendant shall withdraw the title deeds of land with the numbers 7113, 6322, 6324, and 6325 and return the said land to the plaintiff as joint property. If the defendant sells the land, the money received from the sale shall be returned to the plaintiff, and the defendant shall return the title deeds to the plaintiff. If the defendant cannot return the land, the defendant shall pay 550,000 baht as compensation. The defendant shall return the title deed of land number 6323 to the plaintiff. If the defendant cannot return the title deed, the court order shall serve as a replacement for the title deed, and the defendant shall pay compensation. The defendant shall also return 38 personal items to the plaintiff, and if they cannot be returned, the defendant shall pay 550,000 baht as compensation. The defendant shall pay the plaintiff 6,650,000 baht with an interest rate of 7.5 percent per year from the date of filing until the full amount is paid to the plaintiff.
There is a legal dispute that needs to be resolved according to the law that authorizes the court’s ruling. The plaintiff requested the defendant to return the money received from the sale of land with title deed number 30376. The lower court found that the plaintiff did not transfer ownership of the land to the defendant, but rather gave it to them as part of the marital property. Therefore, the land is the plaintiff’s personal property, and the defendant had no authority to sell it. The plaintiff registered the land to the defendant without specifying that it was marital property, so the defendant had the authority to manage it. The sale was completed without the plaintiff’s consent, but the plaintiff’s registration of the land to the defendant during the marriage did not imply the transfer of ownership to the defendant.
This case illustrates two important principles. First, contracts entered into during marriage are voidable and can be cancelled at any time. Second, if a couple has a valid Thai prenuptial agreement, they can have legal protection through a prenuptial clause that states, “Gifts given during marriage between spouses are presumed to be community property of the marriage.
Read original Thai Version : Supreme Court (No.186/2565)
Credit Photo by Cathrine Sæther
