The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

hillbilly

It doesn't stop my wife.

But then again she has her own business.

Whiteshiva

My wife frequently insists on watching Thai soap operas - so can I now divorce her as I am being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment?

Well, perhaps not unusual, but certainly cruel.......

The Fresh Prince

^I'd say so. After all it is serious harm to the mind as are the crappy Korean soaps!

MisterStretch

That's why I have a television, the better DVD player and very comfortable rattan chair upstairs in my bedroom (and no cable for the TV) so she can watch the senseless nonsense and I can read in peace or watch a nice movie.

DrAndy

not true

my wife owns land and she changed her name

mainly because it was 90% shorter and easier to spell

good2bhappy

The problem with registering your marriage is you have to register your divorce!
(unhappy at the moment)

Nawty

Do ID cards state married or not ??

Frankenstein

Don't think missus has anything to do with Thailand specifically, nor that it implies somebody you're pretending to be married to.

In all the English-speaking countries I've been it's understood to refer to your significant other, generally someone you are married to. Unless you're just trying to get a rise, I guess it is not used in the US (at any rate not where you've lived).

__________________
This golden age of communication
Means everyone talks at the same time
And liberty just means the freedom to exploit
Any weakness that you can find

The Fresh Prince

I'll find out for you when I get home as my wife (sorry texpat, un-married live in lover) got her new i.d card today. (to make it legable for faxing legal doccuments, not for getting married.)

good2bhappy

on the ID it says the equivalent of Mrs or Miss

WhiteLotusLane

OOooo. Now there's a big deal.

I'm in the exact same position as the original poster by the way, right down to the years since our 'marriage' and employment status. Interesting topic.

Our main reason for not registering is actually that we don't feel it's any of the government's business; not my government and certainly not the Thai government. In the case of Western governments I profoundly disagree with the way the legal system deals with marriage and especially divorce;

Currently in Thailand laws seem to be reasonably fair to Thais married to foreigners, but in a country where even the constitution can get torn up on a whim, I'm not putting about as much faith in a Thai law as I do in a sheet of that thin pink tissue paper you sometimes find on tables in very cheap restaurants.

* Note that it wasn't an issue securing a mortgage without being legally married.

* Note that it wasn't an issue having a kid, being on the birth certificate, giving the kid my last name and getting both Thai nationality (passport) as well as my own. (Required some hoop-jumping at my embassy though; zero issues on the Thai side)

* Also my wife runs a company so that's another potential can of legal worms I don't like to stir.

Ultimately though, I don't think 'love' is any of the government's business; the less they know about me the happier I am. We know, and God/Buddha/TheFlyingSpaghettiMonster knows; the government can go play its games elsewhere but not with our lives.

The Fresh Prince

^I've got to say that deep down, I'm with you on this one. I don't really care what a piece of paper says. In our hearts we took and exchanged vows, and we honner them. When and if I do get leagally registered It won't make a blind bit of diference to my feelings. In my eyes and my girlfriend/live in lover/life partener/wife we are married.