Sin Sod in Thailand: What It Is, How Much, and Who Keeps It

Contents · 11 sections

What is sin sod in Thailand?Sin sod and tong mun: what is the engagement gold for?How much is sin sod? What 11 Thai families askedIs there a foreigner price for sin sod?Do you have to pay a dowry in Thailand?Who keeps the sin sod, and is it returned to the couple?Rented sin sod: what is it, and should it worry you?Can sin sod be claimed back if the wedding is called off?Who pays for a Thai wedding, and who pays the dowry, husband or wife?What to ask her, and then her parents, before anyone names a numberCommon questions

Sin sod (สินสอด), often called a Thai dowry, is money the groom’s side gives the bride’s parents at a Thai wedding, not the other way round. Thai law names it but doesn’t require it. Families settle the amount and whether it comes back: 47 of 92 Thai commenters on Pantip said it does or should.

If her parents have mentioned sin sod and you’re wondering if you’re being asked to pay for your wife, you aren’t the first. This page used to be our 2017 guide to negotiating it, and some of what it said was wrong: that sin sod sits outside the law, and that a foreigner always pays more. We’ve rewritten it from the official text of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code and from our own count of what Thai people say to each other about sin sod on Pantip, the Thai public forum, with their words beside each number.

What is sin sod in Thailand?

Sin sod is a gift from the groom’s side to the bride’s parents, given in return for her agreeing to marry. That is close to the code’s own words. Section 1437 of the Civil and Commercial Code defines sin sod as property the side making the betrothal gives to the other side’s parents, adoptive parents or guardian “in return for” the betrothed agreeing to the marriage ¹.

So our old guide was wrong to say sin sod sits outside the law. The code names it and says when it can be claimed back (see the law section below). What the code doesn’t do is make anyone pay it.

Families give their own reasons. These four are the ones our old guide listed; the last is the most common answer in our count of Thai commenters, and the first comes up too:

• Thanks for raising her: some families call it ค่าน้ำนม, “milk money” (“sin sod is milk money for the woman’s side,” one commenter wrote; our translation from Thai, as are all quotes below).
• Face: a full tray at the ceremony shows the relatives the groom’s side takes the marriage seriously.
• Proof he can provide for their daughter.
• A start for the couple: many Thai commenters say the money is, or should be, handed back to the two of you.

Is it a price for her? Some Thai people think so and say it out loud.

Of 78 Thai commenters who gave a view on whether sin sod should still exist, 17 were against it, some calling it selling a daughter (“I don’t get selling your child,” one man wrote) and one a waste of money the couple could start out with. The other 61 said it’s still expected, up to the families, optional, or should fit what the groom can afford. If your friends at home say you’re paying for a wife, they’re echoing an argument Thai people have among themselves, and it may not be what her family thinks.

Sin sod is a gift from the groom’s side to her parents that Thai law names but doesn’t require. What it means is set by her family, so ask them, not the internet.

Sin sod and tong mun: what is the engagement gold for?

Tong mun (ทองหมั้น), the engagement gold, is a separate gift, and in law it belongs to her, not to her parents. The code calls it ของหมั้น, the betrothal gift: the engagement is complete when the groom’s side hands it over as evidence that they will marry, and once they’re engaged the gift becomes hers ¹.

Sin sod, in the same section, goes to her parents or guardian. In everyday talk the two get mixed up, so when someone names “the sin sod”, ask whether the gold is inside that figure or on top of it. Three of the 11 families in our count asked for gold on top of the cash, weighed in baht, the Thai unit for gold (one baht-weight is about 15 grams).

On the day, the groom’s side often brings the sin sod and the gold to the bride’s family in a procession called khan maak (ขันหมาก), and they’re laid out on trays in front of the elders and guests. For many families the showing matters, and some borrow or rent the cash for the day (more on that below). Who counts the money, whether the amount is announced and who carries what differ by family and region. Ask her what happened at her cousins’ weddings: that’s the closest guide to what her family expects.

Sin sod isn’t always cash alone. Families may ask for gold, a ring or other gifts; one commenter listed what was given: a million baht, a diamond ring and 20 baht-weight of gold. For what the rest of the visit to her family is like, read meeting your Thai girlfriend’s parents.

How much is sin sod? What 11 Thai families asked

There’s no standard amount. In our count, 11 families who named a figure asked between 40,000 and 2,000,000 baht in cash. The middle of the 11 asked 400,000, which is the middle of these posts, not a typical sin sod. Here is each ask as the poster wrote it, unchecked, from the lowest:

What the family asked (as posted)	Gold on top	How the poster put it
40,000 baht		“40,000 in cash”
50,000 baht	5 baht-weight	“50,000, gold 5 baht”
99,999 baht		“99,999”
200,000 baht		“sin sod money 200,000 baht”
200,000 baht		“200,000 baht”
400,000 baht	4 baht-weight	“400,000 in cash, gold 4 baht”
500,000 baht		“500,000 baht”
600,000 baht		“600,000”
700,000 baht		“700,000”
1,000,000 baht		“Mum thinks just 1M is enough”
2,000,000 baht	50 baht-weight	“two million in cash, and another 50 baht of gold” (a cousin’s case, told second hand)

These are posts from 2025 and 2026, mostly about two Thai families marrying, and many were written because someone disagreed with the figure. They’re what the family asked, not what was finally paid. Families who settled quietly have less reason to post, so the list leans towards the disputes. None of it is a price, and none of it is a foreigner’s rate.

What about “sin sod amount for rich Thai families”? The two highest asks in our count were 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 baht, and the 2,000,000, a cousin’s case told second hand, came with 50 baht-weight of gold. Two posts can’t tell you what wealthier families ask in general. The figure depends on the family, not on a scale.

How is a dowry calculated in Thailand? No formula exists, and no sin sod calculator can tell you what her family will name. Some commenters who explained a figure tied it to her family’s income, her schooling and their region, and to what the groom’s side could manage, so ask what the figure is based on. Three of 78 said to pay what you can afford; one put it as “don’t start married life in debt.”

No figure on this page is a price. Eleven Thai families asked anything from 40,000 to 2,000,000 baht, so the number that matters is the one her family names and the reason they give for it.

Is there a foreigner price for sin sod?

We can’t tell you, and we found no evidence that a set foreigner price exists. The code makes no difference between a Thai groom and a foreign one ¹, and nobody in our sin sod count was asked whether foreigners pay more. Our 2017 guide said a foreigner’s cost “will be higher”; it had no source for that, and we’ve dropped it.

The one thread in our count where a foreign man asked what a Thai family expects came from a Chinese man. Of the