submaniac

Moderators: I am going to post here because it is local to this forum (and I am posting here instead of classifieds because it is not ongoing employment but a one time errand that needs to be run).

Is there anyone in Suphanburi or anyone with a Thai wife or GF in Suphanburi area?  I need someone who speaks fluent time to go to the local land office (Amphur) to check the ownership of land parcels.

The deal is: my father recently passed away. He was one of three children of his parents (my grandparents).  My grandparents have/had a sizeable chunk of real estate in Suphanburi (approximately 70 acres). They died without a will, and the property was supposed to be passed to their children (i.e. my father was one of them).

My father lived in the USA, and his sisters were taking care of the property in Thailand. The sisters claim to have left the titles to the property in my grandparents name. Now that my father has passed, his decedents (his children) are entitled to inherit his share. The problem is we don't know if the sisters changed the titles of the property to their names (thus sneakily disinheriting us).

So rather than buy a plane ticket to Thailand just to go to the land office and Suphanburi, and before I start hiring attorneys (which I will probably have to do depending on the outcome of the title research) I just need to have someone preliminarily go to the land office just to check whose name the property is held in. I have a list of the real estate with their corresponding parcel numbers. So if anyone on this forum is in the Suphanburi area or has a Thai wife GF (hint: great opportunity to get them out of your hair for an afternoon!) that is free to go down to the land office for an afternoon or so, I can compensate for their time.  The task is a one afternoon affair so it is not an ongoing job nor likely to lead to an ongoing job. Just a one time stint.

I have already been in contact with lawyers in Thailand to potentially handle this matter. But before I involve lawyers, I need a simple title check done.   What kind of lawyer I get will be dependent on what happened with the land office.  If the real estate is still in the grandparents name, then I will need to hire an attorney for probate (to handle both intestate probate of grandparents and father).  If the titles have been changed into the sisters' name (my aunts) then it will be a more complicated lawsuit (I.e. fraud and conversion).   So this is step one which is necessary before taking step 2 which is hire the lawyers.  

Please let me know if anyone (or if you know anyone available). Thank you in advance.

Charlie, thank you for moving to land section.

In response to other inquiries, ALL parties involved are Thai nationals.   Dad, his current wife, and his children--all have Thai nationality and Thai ID cards.   I made a mistake in original posting. Meant to say photocopies (not photographs) of the chanotes showing that original chanotes were in his parent's name (as of 2 years ago).   

Which local regional board on TVF does Suphanburi fall under?  I think I'm going to make a post there to see if I can find someone with free time to go down to the local amphur to check on the titles. Thanks.

I'm in a bit of an inheritance mess right now.   My father recently passed, and his parents, who died about 10 years ago, had large real estate holdings. The land holdings are 70 acres (not rai).   My father has two sisters, who are still alive, who were taking care of the land holdings. Before he died he went back to Thailand, and was informed by his sisters that they had kept the land and chanotes in their parents name (and had not switched them over into their name or my father's).  He made photographs of the chanotes, which is what the family over in the U.S. now has.  Now that my father has passed, I and the rest of the siblings would like to get the land issue sorted out.  The big concern is that the sister transferred the chanotes into her name, thus excluding my father and his side of the family.

In the United States, there are title search companies that handle whose land is owned by whom and can trace all the information.  Are there any similar companies that anyone is aware of that could search the title to ensure that the land has not been transferred into the sister's name?  Or perhaps even a private investigator.   As stated, we have the copies of the chanotes so we know which particular property is at issue.  However, I would like to find someone who can do a search for us so we know where to go from here.   I was about to hire a Thai attorney to initiate probate proceedings ont he property.  However, if the land has already been transferred into someone else's name, then that is going to require more work and more legal proceedings.

Thanks.

I personally have never had any problems with or ever disliked the backpacker types. There are a few things...however...hygiene, yeah I know you're traveling cheap and all...but really taking a shower every now and then really isn't that hard to do. And they seem to have the same dress code...dressing like 60's hippies (seriously, the 60's are long over) or trying to go local with the Thai fisherman pants. Other than that...

I also do feel kind of sad for them. The thing is that the Thailand that they hoped to find...I know is long since gone.

I've watched the show, and I think that most on this forum have. (Note: called "locked up abroad" in USA).  From the episodes I have seen on Thailand...there was no mistake about it.  Those people weren't conned or tricked.   They did it and know damn well that they did it.

I notice the elephant has no tusks. Were they already cut off and sold to tourists?

Social security is independent of citizenship. SS is based upon whether you paid into the system not whether you are a U.S. citizen.  

There is nothing wrong with collecting social security while living in a foreign country.  It regularly occurs.

Congratulations Scott!!!

If he can clean up corruption and then quietly leave after the job is done, that is great.  Unfortunately history is filled with so many examples of people who come to power claiming to change the system and then stay too long.  What was that old saying? Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

 

Maybe...the general populace could hold an election to choose who the next PM will be.   Just sayin'.

 

Who are the general populace now???   What parties are eligible,  what candidates are clean enough to vote for ???    under the present situation the courts are sorting out the right and the wrongdoers, many have fled the scene, many are in hiding, some have gone on visits?

 

Bush v. Gore (2000) 531 U.S. 98.   There was a dispute between two presidential candidates as to who had the most votes.   The opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court stated clearly that U.S. Courts do not get involved in political disputes.  

Who is eligible to run? Who is clean enough?  The Courts sorting out the right and the wrong doers?  That is not the job of the courts.   To use the courts in that manner threatens the underpinnings of democracy.   IF there is an allegation that a politician comitted a crime, that is a matter for the criminal courts to determine after a jury trial.  Otherwise, the U.S. courts make it a point not to get involved.  There have been former convicted criminals subsequently elected to office.  In a democracy, it is a decision of the majority of the voters that should be the only thing that matters.

Maybe...the general populace could hold an election to choose who the next PM will be.   Just sayin'.

I know you wanted it....

Here's the official episode guide from E-online (don't click if you don't want spoilers...wink wink):

http://www.eonline.com/shows/kardashians/news/564996/kim-kardashian-goes-selfie-crazy-kylie-jenner-and-kendall-jenner-go-missing-in-thailand-see-the-insane-kuwtk-moments

Submaniac.  A charmer that one.   A prince among men.  His wisdom known far and wide throughout the kingdom. 

Up until now, I mostly agreed with the changes that were trying to be implemented. But this?   In the United States there is a strong movement to end inheritance tax.  The reason?  Because the property was ALREADY taxed and already paid.  You're forcing people to pay again for something they already paid for.  Singapore already got rid of the inheritance tax.

What this will do is create alot of mayhem for most Thais.  Everyone who owns land will have to pay a tax where they did not have to pay before.  So pretty much the majority of Thai people will be affected negatively.   The especially hard hit will be the wealthy families of Thailand who inherited their property.  We all know that wealthy Thais don't put up with things well. 

What needs to be taken into consideration is the support base among the populace, and someone is not taking that into account.  The Thai poor were the supporters of the previous regime (who I am also not a fan of), so they're not happy with the current situation.  Alot of Thai poor, like the motorcycle taxi guys, and the beach chair people, are already upset with the changes happening which threaten their source of income.   And now the wealthy Thais--those with the land--are going to be alienated with the inheritance and property taxes.   And what of the middle class who are also now subject to paying more in taxes.

So if the poor, the middle class, and the wealthy are all being alienated, where's the popular support going to come from?

The only people who seem to support this idea are the farangs on Thaivisa who don't own land.

I know that all of us on this forum think that Keeping up with the Kardashians is must watch TV.  This weeks episode, (11/27/14) those wacky Kardashians are on a family vacation to Thailand!!  The awesomeness is hard to contain. ;)

Hi George,

Thank you for your quick reply (as always), however it is now over a week that multiple related questions have been posted without any response.  If you click on the second, third, fourth pages you will see a whole bunch of questions--which really should not be that hard to answer as they seem simple enough--totally ignored.

Yes, I know it is a free service with no guarantees.  But so is the rest of the forum, and if the lawyer doesn't respond, the questions should be allowed to be posted on another of the forums where someone might know the answer.   o force someone to only post a legal question in the "ask the lawyer forum" is not feeling quite right to me.  On the one hand TVF makes it clear with their disclaimer that this entire section TVF takes no responsibility for...but on the other hand legal questions are being hearded into this particular forum.  Sorry, it just doesn't feel kosher to me.  And I legitimately need to get the ball rolling because I am concerned that assets are being diverted from the estate (it's a Thai probate problem).

TVF has the rule against posting multiple places.  I now find myself needing to find Thai qualified probate attorneys to handle property of an estate, and having legitimate questions regarding probate law of Thailand.   I posted two different questions on the "Ask a Lawyer forum".  The pinned portion says response in 48 hours.  No response from the lawyer.  Furthermore, I cannot post a follow up post to delete the post so I can ask in another section so that I can get a response from someone.  The only posts allowed on that forum are from the lawyer.

So can I just post in general or real estate section since the lawyer is not responding?  I need to start probate proceedings and I want to start ASAP to avoid the property disappearing.  I would like to ask someone to see if anyone has knowledge about this.  I have sifted through that forum and I would say about 40%-50% of the questions are unanswered. 

If the point behind the forum was to potentially drum up business, the way that they're ignoring inquiries on that forum will have the opposite effect.

Would have thought this might be better in "ask the lawyer" let me know if you want it moved.

yes it would be better there, but I have already asked two different probate questions related to the same circumstances and the lawyer has not responded at all. Thought I would get better response here.

And yes Seastallion, 100% certain that the fees for administration of the estate paid to the lawyer are based upon a percentage of the value of the estate. see http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/california-probate-an-overview.html at the third topic heading "probate attorney Fees in California"

 

To answer question number  "1. do we need a carnet de passage to bring an indian registered  bike to thailand", the answer is no.  Thailand is not a signatory to the carnet de passage agreement, and does not accept it.

 

 

 

And yet the majority of  the high end vehicles that are on the grid in the supercar race series are here on carnet de passage paperwork.
 

 

ATA carnet, which Thailand is a signatory: http://www.atacarnet.com/acceptable-carnet-merchandise

This covers commercial merchandise, and includes racecars.

CDP carnet (Carnet de Passages en Douane) which covers vehicles for personal useage, for which Thailand does not accept.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnet_de_Passages

B20 to B35 per liter.

Seems like a very little amount of compensation for a rather prodigious amount of effort.

I hope this is not a fetish thing.

Quick question: I may need to be involved in initiating a probate proceeding in Thailand. In California (and most jurisdictions I am aware of) the probate attorney for the estate is paid via a percentage of the value of the probate estate (pursuant to the probate code) once the estate closes. I wanted to know if Thailand operates in the same manner (lawyer paid % of the estate) or is it an hourly basis with a retainer?

Thank you.

To answer question number  "1. do we need a carnet de passage to bring an indian registered  bike to thailand", the answer is no.  Thailand is not a signatory to the carnet de passage agreement, and does not accept it.

I would suggest Yanhee.  http://www.yanhee.net/

I have gone there for some medical procedures, and I can personally attest that it is a good facility.

Breast englargements are one of their specialties (not that I had the proedure).  They do offer free consultation so you can go there and check it out before going ahead.  When I went there, there were always alot of foreigners there for cosmetic procedures.