Civil Proceedings in Thailand

[SiamLegal]

Thailand is a civil law country. Civil Proceedings in Thailand are basically governed by the Civil Procedure Code. It is a fundamental principle of the code that all trials must be held in an open court and in the presence of all parties except in case of default or in case of necessity to maintain order in court.

Civil proceedings are commenced by filing a complaint and payment of fees to the court. The plaintiff files a request for a summons and the copy of the complaint is served on the defendant by a court officer. The court officer will serve personally the proceedings on the defendant, and if personal service is not successful, the court officer may post a copy of the summons and complaint in a conspicuous place at the defendant’s address or mail the summons and complaint to the defendant’s address.

The defendant has 15 days from the date of service of the proceedings within which to file an answer to the complaint. If the proceedings were served by posting at the premises, service is deemed to take effect 15 days after the date of posting; effectively, defendant has 30 days within which to file an answer to the complaint. If the defendant is not domiciled or does not have business in Thailand, and does not have a lawyer or agent in Thailand, service must be effected through diplomatic channels which are usually deemed to take effect within 60 days after the date of actual service.

This article was provided by Siam Legal, an international law firm with offices in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, Phuket, and Samui. Siam Legal publishes legal guides to civil cases in Thailand on its website.

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