Small Claims

Are you looking for a law firm in Thailand? Sunbelt Asia Legal Advisors is the best choice. Do you know what Small Claims Court is? The Small Claims Court are also known as District Court. The Court is divided into 2 chambers, Civil and Criminal. The jurisdiction of the District Court is limited to a certain geographical area. The Civil and Criminal cases are taken to the Small Claims Court.
Take a look at the criminal and civil cases requirements and punishments.

Criminal Cases

The criminal offense is a violation of law that is harmful to the society and individual. According to Thai law, the criminal acts are punishable. The punishment might include:

• Imprisonment for not over 3 years. 
• Fine not over 60,000 THB
• In some cases, both punishments are given.

In case there is one judge to make the judgment, imprisonment cannot exceed 6 months. While fine cannot be over 10,000 THB. If the judge deems punishment must be more than this. They can request another judge to review the case file. The other judge can give their opinion and both the judges will act together.

Civil Cases

A Civil offense is an offense that arises due to the dispute between individuals. They are mostly of business nature. According to the Thai Law, the value of the civil case must not be over 300,000 THB. If the complainant wants to force the defendant to act, the case must be submitted to the provincial court.
The time period of the case depends on its complexity. At least the Court will take 3 months to reach a decision. No case is pending after one year. 

Required Documents

Following are the documents that must be submitted:

• The documents related to the debt
• Information related how the amount was calculated
• Power of Attorney
• Lawyer’s license
• ID card of complainant, if it relates to a company, company affidavit must be submitted
• House registration of the defendant.

Steps

The below-mentioned steps are taken after the documents are submitted.

• An officer will check all the documents
• After the claim is accepted, the officer will create a black case number
• The next step is the calculation of the court fees that must be paid
• A petition will be sent to the defendant by the Court. This includes the date they must be present in the court
• On that date, the case will be handled and the punishment will be decided.

Actions of the Judge

• The judge can decide to get additional information
• Issuance of the criminal warrants that are necessary for further investigation
• All sorts of security measures.

Costs Involved

The costs involved in the cases are:

• Admission fee is 200 THB for every case if the value is unclear. 100 THB if the value is clear.
• 50 THB for each page
• The Court fee is:
  • In case of impeached asset does not exceed 300,000 THB, 2% fee with a maximum of 1,000 THB.
  • If the impeached asset value is between 300,000 THB and 50 million THB, a fee of 2% with maximum 200,000 THB

We at Sunbelt Asia Legal Advisors offers you the best legal advisors. We have been working the legal field for 15 years. Our professionals have comprehensive knowledge about the law practices and regulations. We will help you collect all the essential documents. For more information about Small Claims, you can contact us on (+66) 02-662-7004.