Legal Issues in the Classification of Spousal Property: A Case Study on Compensation for Bodily or Mental Injury to a Spouse Arising from a Delict

Abstract

Under the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, property between spouses is statutorily classified into two categories: personal property (Sin Suan Tua) and marital property (Sin Somros). Pursuant to Section 1470, “Properties of husband and wife except in so far as they are set aside as Sin Suan Tua, are Sin Somros.”

The statutory classification of spousal property has direct implications for both the scope of managerial authority over such property and the proportionate entitlement of each spouse. Where property is designated as marital property, each spouse is vested with equal authority to independently manage the property, and its benefits are required to be equally shared. Conversely, property designated as personal property falls exclusively under the control of the spouse to whom it belongs, and it is exempt from any division upon dissolution of the marriage.

The operative criterion for classification, as prescribed by law, is the time of acquisition. Property acquired prior to the marriage is generally classified as personal property, whereas property acquired during the marriage is presumptively classified as marital property—save for certain categories expressly recognized by statute as personal property, irrespective of the time of acquisition.

As a result, the corpus of marital property tends to increase throughout the duration of the marriage, whereas the accumulation of personal property is considerably more limited. Significantly, compensation for damages arising from bodily or mental injury sustained by a spouse during the marriage is not expressly enumerated among the categories of personal property under the Civil and Commercial Code. This statutory omission gives rise to the legal issue of whether compensation awarded to a spouse for injury resulting from a delict should be classified as personal property or marital property.