Thailand Has a Law That Lets Parents Take Back Gifts From an ‘Ungrateful’ Child. The Singha Beer Heir Is Testing It.

A 1908 Thai law lets parents legally take back gifts they have already given a child — if that child is judged abusive, neglectful, or responsible for causing the family "serious reputational harm." It rarely surfaces in public. Right now it is at the center of a fight inside one of Thailand's richest families: Siranudh "Psi" Scott, heir to the $1.75 billion Singha beer fortune, is being sued under it by his own mother — after he went public alleging he was sexually abused as a child. He says the law exists to keep people like him quiet. They are due in court July 8.

The law: a debt that runs child-to-parent

Most legal systems lean on what parents owe children. This one runs the other way. Written in 1908, the provision — usually translated as the "ungrateful child" law — rests on a Thai cultural expectation that children repay their parents' sacrifices through respect, obedience, and support. Under it, gifts can be revoked if a child is deemed ungrateful, physically abusive, neglectful of a parent in old age, or responsible for serious harm to the family's reputation.

"Ingratitude" is the closest English word, Chulalongkorn University anthropologist Jiraporn Laocharoenwong told AFP, but it lands harder in Thai — not merely failing to appreciate kindness, but "betraying or violating a relationship of care and obligation." The framework mostly cuts one way. Thai law obliges parents to care for their children too, but legal experts say a child's avenues to seek redress against a parent are limited outside criminal cases — and suing a parent is itself considered contrary to custom.

The case

Siranudh "Psi" Scott is a fourth-generation member of the Bhirombhakdi family, which founded Singha and ranks as Thailand's 15th-richest per Forbes. In May, he went public with allegations that he was sexually abused as a child by his older brother, Sunit, and a babysitter. Sunit denied the allegation but was dismissed from his executive role at Singha's parent company, Boonrawd.

His mother, Chiranuj Bhirombhakdi, had filed suit back in February — before the public allegations — using the ungrateful-child law to reclaim land worth millions that Siranudh's late grandfather had gifted him, arguing he damaged the family's reputation. One of her lawyers told reporters the court is pursuing "an amicable resolution, with the ultimate goal of reuniting the family," and that the mother "is experiencing significant stress, as this case involves a person who she loves." (Every allegation here is as reported by AFP and ABC News; the abuse claim is unproven and denied.)

How often this actually happens

Rarely in public. Lawyers told AFP that most ungrateful-child cases involve wealthy families with substantial assets, and that most are settled through court-mediated negotiation rather than a ruling — the goal, said family lawyer Pimyaphat Jullaphan, is "compromise to help repair family relationships, rather than having a judge declare a winner and a loser." That keeps them out of the headlines. But the law has teeth: in 2021, an elderly couple who ran a petrol station outside Bangkok sued their son after being told to leave the family home, and a court ordered property they had transferred to him returned. This year, a lawyer publicly warned a Thai actor that even admitting he was no longer in contact with his mother could expose him to the same kind of suit.

Why it sticks

It is a clean collision between two things most people assume point the same direction: family loyalty and a child's welfare. Siranudh's argument is that the law was built to protect the family name above the child. "Anything remotely damaging to the name is considered disobedient," he told AFP. "It has really no place in a liberal society that places importance on the welfare of children." After he spoke, several Thai celebrities went public with their own accounts of assault and misconduct.

Two rounds of mediation have failed. He and his mother are due back in court July 8. "Please take your money and power away," Siranudh said after a hearing in June. "Because my dignity can't be bought."

Reporting: AFP, carried by ABC News (Patrick Martin with wires), June 28, 2026. Expert sources quoted by AFP: Jiraporn Laocharoenwong, Chulalongkorn University; Pimyaphat Jullaphan, Thailand Lawyers Network.

If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual abuse, the U.S. National Sexual Assault Hotline is free and confidential: 800-656-HOPE (4673).