Etaoin Shrdlu

I looked into this a couple of years ago and consulted an attorney in the US who specializes in international estate planning. She happens to be a relative as well. For assets in the US, it is really best to have a US will. For assets located in Thailand, she stated that a Thai will is best, but it is possible to put instructions for Thai assets in the US will should there be no Thai will in existence.

Without confirmation on this matter directly from April, If your policy is silent on this then you should assume that your coverage will lapse on the expiry date. You would then have to start over making a fresh declaration on order to get a new policy. If you have developed a medical condition during the period of the expiring policy or earlier iterations of it, then it will become a pre-existing condition and likely excluded from cover under the new policy.

L'Opera was excellent back in the day. I'll await reports of food and service quality before I give it a try again. Hope this isn't a repeat of what happened to a favorite German restaurant.

Should do like in Thailand: Reenactment by the accused with police and reporters present.

My understanding is that Thai banks request proof of an address in Thailand so that they may open a resident account for the applicant. No Thai address is required to open a non-resident account. If you provided a Thai address, then you most likely have a resident account and are protected.

Until the RD issues clarification to the contrary, yes, at least with respect to a personal income tax liability on Mr. U. However if the purpose of the gift was to evade personal income tax on Mr. U's part, then possibly all bets are off. Mr. T might be liable for gift tax if the amount were large enough.

I think that the purpose of the remittance is irrelevant with respect to the remitter's potential Thai personal income tax liability.

I think it means something when insurers advertise their reinsurers' financial strength rating and not their own. Reinsurance won't help a policyholder if their insurer goes bust. Some interesting reading here, especially page 21: https://www.bma.bm/viewPDF/documents/2023-10-04-10-14-06-Best-Doctors-Insurance-Limited---2022-Financial-Statement.pdf

Find a good insurance broker and ask for help in finding an insurer and policy that makes the most sense. But at age 65 you're going to have to choose from among a bunch of unappealing options. Oldies are expensive to insure and the policies that are on offer aren't very good and will exclude pre-existing conditions.

You don't suppose that the climate, plants. and animals might have different thresholds of sensitivity to CO2 levels?

I think that for laundering statutes to kick in, at least in Thailand, the source of the funds has to be an illegal activity.

I think that if the amount given is less than 10 million baht and the gift can be completed outside Thailand, then the gift could be remitted by the recipient without incurring a Thai tax liability. This would require the recipient to have a bank account outside of Thailand.

What is the maximum donor age that the Thai RC will accept n such circumstances? Do they waive the normal limit?

Or when they cover the Christie's song and sing "Yellow Liver".

There is a case to be made that solar cycles affect weather on earth, but the cycles are fairly consistent over that 11 year period with solar energy deviating by about 0.1 percent from peak to trough. https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115207 This would not explain continually rising temperature over a longer stretch of time. Then there are the Milankovitch cycles that don't seem to fit the rapid rise in global temperatures. https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/why-milankovitch-orbital-cycles-cant-explain-earths-current-warming/ Until a different external effect can be identified, we are left with finding an earthbound driver of increasing temperatures. So far, it seems that the scientific consensus is an increase CO2 in the atmosphere.

A good job and a Western education with good English language ability are big plusses. Not mentioning a boyfriend was good advice. My girlfriend (now wife ) obtained a tourist visa to the US back in the 1990s. In support of her application I submitted documents proving my employment with a US multinational and long-term presence here. I also provided a letter stating that I would ensure her return to Thailand. She received a visa good for one entry back then. She now has the ten-year tourist visa.

Thailand is a noisy place and it seems to me that Thais fear quiet as much as they seem to fear being alone. I've kind of gotten used to the din, although we've found a number of places that don't have live music. We rotate among quiet and louder restaurants depending on our mood at the time. But I understand your point.

If your girlfriend has a serious job, property and money in Thailand and speaks passable English in the interview, then she may be able to get a tourist visa on her own. Having an American boyfriend (or husband for that matter) actually makes the likelihood of getting a tourist visa poorer. The concern on the part of the consular official is that you would seek to change her immigration status once there, perhaps after getting married. Any suspicion that this might happen will result in a denial. In order to remove concerns that she may not return, it becomes important to show that you have strong ties to Thailand such as a good job, own a condo, own a business, have PR or long-term residency, etc. It isn't impossible, but the rejection ratio is high.

It was a difficult time for individuals and companies that had deposits with the shuttered finance companies. Loans denominated in foreign currency became much harder to service. Lots of companies laid off staff. Many properties and luxury autos came onto the market at steeply discounted prices in the scramble to raise cash. There was a very brief period before retailers could mark up imported items when local retail prices were about half the US retail price. I think it only took a few days before this was corrected. The USD/baht exchange rate wasn't above 50 for very long, but it did then settle out in the mid-40s for a longer period. This was a good time to bring in money to buy a house or condo. But on a day-to-day basis, nothing much changed in my life. There weren't as many foreigners working in Thailand back then and I think the retirement visa had only recently become available, so the expat community was much smaller than it is today. Tourist arrivals were only about seven or eight million per year back then, too.

Yes, it is entirely possible to have an undiagnosed and un-noticed condition that existed at policy inception. Depending upon policy wording, such a condition may be cited by an insurer as a pre-existing condition and a claim denied. Some policy wording may be more favorable, so it is important to understand how a pre-existing condition is defined and covered (or not) under the policy's terms.

Possibly. Most insurers will accept whatever the proposer is able to declare on the proposal form and will issue a policy based upon this information and won't undertake a thorough underwriting exercise at that time. That leaves the insurer with a potential get-out-of-jail-free card to use if and when a large claim is submitted. While post-claim underwriting is perhaps unethical, it is legally allowed - at least up to a point. The Thai Civil and Commercial Code does have a five-year limitation on an insurers's ability to do this, provided the insurer has been on risk for that time. The onus is on the applicant to disclose all material facts that would influence an insurer's determination of coverage and price. Unfortunately, this can also include an obligation to disclose facts that the proposer may not be aware of or had forgotten, or which the proposer did not think was significant. Perhaps the only way to prevent an insurer from citing intentional non-disclosure would be to submit one's medical records for them to review when initially applying. My suggestion is to submit actual medical records going back as far as possible in order to minimize the chance that an insurer could find something that would allow them to deny cover. Depending upon policy wording, this may also not be foolproof since there may be an undiagnosed condition that hasn't manifested itself yet which the insurer could cite to deny a claim. It would also require more time and effort than the current practice of relying on an applicant's memory and understanding of medical issues. Individual commercial insurance is a poor solution for transferring the risk of significant medial expenses. Group cover through an employer is often a bit better, but the only cover that oldies can really rely upon is that which comes from the state, and even then there are gaps, deductibles and exclusions.

A doctor visit isn’t a condition, but it may be necessary to disclose if consultation is sought for symptoms. Proposal forms often stipulate such.

The doctor conjures up conditions that don’t exist and puts it in a report?

In both cases he had a pre-existing condition.

My statement was about not having a pre-existing condition at all, as was the OP's. Non-disclosure and being unaware of an existing condition are another matter entirely.