On 7^th June 2022, the Cabinet approved the Draft of the Civil Partnership Act (“CPA”) proposed by the Ministry of Justice. The CPA as drafted allows same-gender individuals to register their civil partnership and they will be recognized as civil partners.  The couples who can register their civil partnership must be at least 17 years old and one of them must be a Thai national.

The draft CPA recognizes and provides the registered civil partners with the same rights as those of married heterosexual couples under the Civil and Commercial Code.  Such rights include:

1.   right to live together and support each other as a family;
2.   right to act on behalf of the victim partner in criminal cases;
3.   right to engage in the joint management of assets;
4.   right to adopt a child together;
5.   right to inherit as a statutory heir of the deceased partner; and
6.   right to seek a court order declaring the partner incompetent or quasi-incompetent.

The draft CPA was accepted in principle by the House of Representatives in its first reading on 15^th June 2022 and it is now being reviewed by a working committee appointed by the House of Representatives.

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