TallGuyJohninBKK

Trying to come to some judgment about whether it makes any sense for me to try to get added to my wife's tabien baan for a house she owns in her original home town, which is NOT where she and I have been renting for the past 12-plus years here in Bangkok -- and whether doing so would create any Thai Immigration grief for me that I don't want or need. The basics -- I've been on annual retirement extensions for many years based on my rented home here in Bangkok, the same and only one I've had ever since I moved to Thailand. The Thai wife, who has a work career here in BKK, and I have been living in our rented BKK home ever since we were married. But several years ago, she entirely on her own (I'm not in any way legally or financially involved) bought a new home in her original home town mainly for her parents and siblings who live there now, but also potentially for her or us in the distant future sometime. Now this month, she's planning to travel back to her hometown to get her name removed from the tabien baan from the old/prior location she and her family used to live in her hometown before we met and married, and get her name added to the tabien baan for her recently purchased house (which for some reason she never bothered to do at the time of her purchase). So that creates the question -- should I be doing anything in all this to get added via a Yellow Book listing for her new home town property where she's the sole owner? It would be nice to have an official Thai ID document (in the form of a Yellow Book and Pink ID card) that I don't currently have. But I wouldn't want to pursue the Yellow Book route if it meant, for example, that somehow I'd have to start doing my annual retirement extensions there instead of here in Bangkok, or similarly, I wouldn't want to have to start doing my 90-day reporting (when required in person) in her hometown instead of here in Bangkok. But it's not clear to me whether getting a Yellow Book listing based on her house in her hometown would trigger either of those Immigration-related kinds of changes or not? Anyone have any feel for the answers to those kinds of questions? TIA

You're right about the prior comment being wrong... AFAIK, under Thai inheritance law, the spouse is automatically entitled to HALF of all the communal marital property.... In the absence of a will directing otherwise, there are various other levels of familial statutory inheritance under Thai law -- parents, siblings, children, etc. Assuming the children were the only ones living with such entitlements, they (in whatever number of them existed) would divide the other half.

And people say you can't live in Bangkok any more for less than $1,000 USD per month.... Well, Jack obviously found a way! But guessing he won't be having a lot of house guests coming over to visit! 🤪

You mean like this? "Spiv" is a British slang term, particularly used during and after World War II, referring to a man who lives by his wits and engages in dishonest or shady dealings, often involving the black market or petty crime. 😆

Do Thai probate court rulings control assets outside of Thailand?

One thing I've never been clear on in this area is.... does a Thai probate court have any real jurisdiction (control) over assets located outside of Thailand? My sense of that is NO, but I can't say I've ever seen any clear / authoritative legal opinion on that. But it also seems to fit with the notion of having two different wills, one done under Thai law for Thai assets, and the other under home country law for home country assets. The requirements for a legally valid Thai will are almost certainly going to be different from those in people's home countries, and Thai courts/judges almost certainly are not going to be familiar with the probate requirements and what is required for a valid will in multitudes of foreign jurisdictions.... Nor, AFAIK, would a Thai probate court's rulings alone have any legal force there.

The bank manager we dealt with advised that they would honor the terms of the POA until formally notified of the death, which would leave the beneficiary plenty of time to make the necessary transfer(s). Keep in mind, there's no department of the Thai government or Thai police or hospitals that run around contacting banks every time a farang dies in Thailand. It's a drawn out process that starts with the police and doctor/hospital, and then onward to the person's embassy, which ultimately issues their version of a death certificate. AFAIK, none of those entities have any reason to know or be concerned with what Thai banks a particular farang decedent may hold accounts with.

I have lived for many years in the general area discussed in the OP. For me, the most annoying aspect of Sukhumvit Road is not the noise from tuk tuks (which does indeed occur), but instead is the totally unnecessary and massively louder incessant engine noise from the many many more MOTORCYCLES traveling the road. There's absolutely no reason the puny motorcycle engines on most typical consumer Thai motorcycles need to sound like Indianapolis 500 race car engines. But it's almost like Thais have some severe allergy to mufflers. Just to note how much of a difference can be made... Recently, a lot of the Grab drivers who ply our side soi have been switching to the electric motorcycles, as have some of the regular car taxis... And it's amazing, one or the other of them comes up behind you as you're walking down the soi, and you hear NOTHING. They are virtually silent... Just imagine how much more pleasant and hospitable Sukhumvit Road would be for inhabitants, tourists, sellers, etc if the incessant roar of fueled engines was replaced by that... Or at least, the Thai police began actually enforcing noise pollution laws and requiring working mufflers on motorcycles.

Jack, I haven't kept up with the issue of joint accounts for retirement extension deposits regarding Thai Immigration. But I thought there was a time in the past when Immigration, or at least some offices, would allow joint accounts for retirement extension purposes as long as the total joint account deposit was double the required 800K, meaning, 1.6 million. I don't know if that notion still is accepted or not by Thai Immigration these days.

I believe what you're referring to is the Thai version of what they call "power of attorney" on a bank account, which requires filling out the requisite form at the bank branch holding your account, and the beneficiary signing it as well along with presenting her Thai ID. That what my Thai wife have done with the Krungsri Bank account that holds my 800K retirement extension deposit, at the suggestion of the bank branch manager there. For starters, the power of attorney designation does not appear in any visible way on the bank passbook. So for Immigration purposes, it remains solely an account in my name only as an individual account. But behind the scenes, the power of attorney designation (prior to the point the bank is officially notified of my death) gives my beneficiary / my wife full legal access to and control of the account. And she knows that she should quickly transfer the funds from my account to hers using her POA status before the bank is notified of my death. According to the bank branch manager, AFTER the bank is formally notified of my death, my wife would then only be able to access half of any funds remaining in the account at that point (assuming there were any funds still remaining), but the other half would have to await the resolution of Thai probate.

And that's your food / shopping list and budget for the week, right??? j/k 😁

Cubic is a commercial, supermarket brand of various packaged breads here in Thailand. A lot of them with a lot of sugar to fit the Thai taste, AFAIK... And made to sit on the supermarket shelves for long periods of time.... Not in the same league as places like Bartels and Holey where they make and sell their freshly made breads on a day to day basis.

Yep, Bartel's regular sourdough is terrific, both sold in whole loaves and used as slices on their equally good sandwiches. Unfortunately, while they also make a wholewheat version of their sourdough, it's pretty hard to come by, AFAIK, unless you order it or get to one of their shops relatively early in the day. It's also considerably more expensive than Holey's version at about 250 baht per loaf, which also is actually a mix of rye and whole wheat flours. Last time I talked to them on the subject, Bartels doesn't make their wholewheat sourdough readily available as an alternate bread choice for their sandwiches, even upon request... And, while they do make and sell full loaves of their wholewheat/rye sourdough, those are only in pretty small numbers each day, meaning they're often gone relatively quickly.

Also, the chain of farang-founded Holey bakeries in Bangkok have a range of gourmet sourdough breads, including a non-sweet wholewheat version that's quite good. They sell their wholewheat sourdough loaves in their shops and via Grab delivery, with the latter running about 100b per loaf. It's one of our regular purchases for home consumption and tastes great! https://www.holeybakery.cafe/ Their Phed Mak Mak sourdough at the bottom of the list above also is quite delicious, with its combination of sharp cheddar and jalapenos blended in.

Thanks for posting those clips above... Yes, Thailand has long been one of the most expensive ATM fee countries in the world.... in terms of the ATM fees assessed against foreign cards. If you don't mind me asking, what was the source of the charts you posted above? Do you have a weblink for them? Also, be interested to know the timing of them, since they reference AEON ATMs.... and someone above mentioned AEON has withdrawn their ATMs in Thailand.

Actually, if you have the right home country bank, its NOT expensive at all... In fact, it can still be among the best way to access foreign funds here, and more economical than international wire transfers..... if you have the correct setup with your home bank. What's the correct setup: 1. a home country bank that charges NO foreign currency exchange fee on foreign purchases or ATM withdrawls, meaning you get the full regular VISA or MC networks rates. 2. a home country bank that fully reimburses you for other banks' foreign ATM charges incurred when using their card, whether those are from a different bank in your home country or a foreign bank when abroad. 3. a home country bank that allows you to make up to $1000 USD in daily ATM withdrawals from their card, meaning you can take advantage of the maximum 30,000 THB withdrawals allowed by Thai Krungsri and TMB ATM machines. But, yes, on the other hand, if your home country bank only allows maximum $500 ATM withdrawals per day, charges you a 3% foreign currency fee on all foreign ATM withdrawals and POS purchases, and does NOT reimburse you for the Thai banks' 250b ATM withdrawal fee for using a foreign card,.... indeed, that's getting screwed.

fyi, ATMs belonging to Krungsri/Ayuthaya (the yellow bank) and the former TMB (blue bank) both allow maximum per withdrawal amounts of up to 30,000 baht (the 30K amount is even a preset option on their ATMs' withdrawal screen), assuming the home country debit card you're using has a daily withdrawal amount of $1,000 USD or more. Right now, the 30K THB withdrawal works out to be about $930 USD... But a lot of US bank debit cards have default daily maximum withdrawal amounts of only $500 or less.... But Schwab accounts typically have the $1,000 daily withdrawal limit for their debit cards. PS - The major Thai banks have always set their ATM fees in unison, cartel style. Typically is done via the Thai Bankers Assn., presumably with some coordination/acceptance by the Bank of Thailand. We certainly wouldn't want there to be any actual competition between the different Thai major banks trying to differentiate themselves on the basis of lower (or higher) customer fees!!! 😞

I believe the notion that the original building design was flawed and/or the actual construction of the building didn't follow what the original design called for. However, I DON'T believe that all the prior, pretty substantial reporting and testing of the construction materials that found substandard steel and substandard concrete being used was somehow all totally in error. As i recall, some of those findings were made based on testing done and publicly reported by Thai government entities, among others. Especially given that the latest news reporting here and the PM's comments don't give any explanation at all of what happened with the prior public reporting of substandard construction materials being used. Thai police general heading the investigation, BKK Post, June 9: "We have evidence of forged engineering signatures, substandard materials and violations of basic safety standards. The cement and steel used, to give one example, didn't meet the specifications outlined in the contract's terms of reference." [emphasis added] ... There are clearly three core failures: design, supervision and construction materials. All contributed to the building's collapse and the resulting deaths." https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3045011/suspect-list-grows-as-state-audit-office-building-probe-widens

What general area is your home?

Re Medconsult Clinic above: The total price at Mahidol's Thai Travel Clinic near Victory Monument BTS is probably going to be closer to 2,000 baht, assuming you go during their daytime hours, as opposed to their evening hours. For both Medconsult and Thai Travel Clinic, they're typically only keeping limited numbers of COVID vaccine doses on hand at any given time, so best to call ahead to confirm and/or make an appointment for the specific vaccine purpose.

Never have truer words been spoken about life in Thailand....

The common sense point I believe UK was making was... in a time when the country is bemoaning the lack of tourists and their spending to the country, it makes ZERO sense for a landlord of all people to grass out a paying tenant (and thus lose that tenant) to Thai Immigration -- unless there were some broader/underlying issues going on with his tenancy.

No... they found: "...a zoonotic origin with spillover from animals to humans is currently considered the best supported hypothesis by the available scientific data, until requests for further information are met or more scientific data becomes available..."

Worth noting, the Executive Summary of the above report, in its introductory comments, recites the following facts regarding the global COVID pandemic: --from December 2019 thru May 2023 when the WHO ended its "public health emergency of international concern" declaration, more than 7 million deaths were reported to the WHO. But the WHO estimates the "true toll" of the pandemic to have caused at least 20 million deaths globally based on excess deaths estimates. --The WHO also estimated the global economic losses associated with the COVID pandemic at $11 trillion to $16 trillion USD, citing the "severe disruption to societies and livelihoods."

The WHO report document: Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) Independent assessment of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 Publication Date 27 June 2025 Executive summary ... "While most available and accessible published scientific evidence supports hypothesis #1, zoonotic transmission from animals, possibly from bats or an intermediate host to humans, SAGO is not currently able to conclude exactly when, where and how SARS-CoV-2 first entered the human population. ... Without information to fully assess the nature of the work on coronaviruses in Wuhan laboratories, nor information about the conditions under which this work was done, it is not possible for SAGO to assess whether the first human infection(s) may have resulted due to a research related event or breach in laboratory biosafety. ... To conclude, while a zoonotic origin with spillover from animals to humans is currently considered the best supported hypothesis by the available scientific data, until requests for further information are met or more scientific data becomes available, the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and how it entered the human population will remain inconclusive." (more) https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/epp/sago/independent-assessment-of-the-origins-of-sars-cov-2-by-sago.pdf?sfvrsn=b0f90ad4_4&download=true Poster's comment - quoting of the report above in a more meaningful, comprehensive way is constrained by the forum's fair use policy limiting the amount of allowed quoted content.