Transfer of ownership for property in Thailand

[Dillip]

Hi - after some general advice. My father has passed away and has a Thai will stating that his property (condominium/apartment) and assets be given to me. He had the will written up and registered with a Thai Law firm and has them as executor of the will. Can anyone give me advice on what the process is here and what fees and charges I should expect?

Thanks

[KittenKong]

Try doing a search on here as the question has come up before. I cant remember the details I'm afraid.

[Delight]

Having them ,the Thai Law Company ,as executor(administrator in Thailand) of the will limits your options.

In simple terms the will must go to probate and a Thai official will declare that you own the condo.

 

The lawyer will arrange this. They should also deal with the funeral arrngements. This can cost up to 100kBaht.

However the land Office will need a FET inorder to put it directly into your name.

To qualify you will have to bring into Thailand Baht equivalent to the appraised value of the condo. This could well be a lot of money.

The option is to sell the condo. Thai law says you have one year to sell.

The better option would have been for you to be both the beneficiary and the administrator.

With this arragement post probate the condo will be in your name as administrator.

You can leave it in this state for years.

If at some later stage  when you have  buyer-then you as administrator will arrange the transfer to the new buyer. The new buyer provides the FET.

Maybe your law company can help i.e it stays in their name for years and years.

Q Do you trust the law firm ?

[BlackJack]

As the Testator is dead and Thai Will states the Law Company as the Executor then this is a fact you have to work with. To challenge this would be time-consuming and costly. In any event, a Lawyer needs to make a Plaint to the court to get a court date, present you, question you in court and then via a translator give the answer to the Judge. If an Executor wants to resign or is challenged then there is a 15 day period for that, then followed by another 30 days to advertise and listen to challenges. 

 

As an Heir, you will inherit the property however under the condo at section 19 you may be required to sell it within a 12 months period - 6 months to get a Grant of Probate court order and 12 months to sell gives you 18 months. 

However.

There is legal precedence that the Testator as the owner of the condo did use a TT3 to bring money into Thailand to buy. The Land Office accepted this and transferred the property. Therefore the TT3 is an asset that can be Willed to another. However, the Land Office may fight this so be prepared for civil action or sell the property.

 

However, I know of a case where the Beneficiaries simply didn't want to be bothered with the inherited condo as they were old wealthy and lived in Spain.  The property caretaker simply paid the common fees and other dues on the condo and the JPM was powerless to stop him collecting rent and continuing on regardless. Unless someone rings the bell this property will be overlooked for many years to come. It may never be transferred. I am not saying this is correct however the JPM under the condo act can't do much else.

 

In my experience, 100% of named Executors have used the 15 day period to resign. However, first the named Executor goes to court and is appointed Executor, then they resign as Executor stating old age or sick or bankrupt or incompetence. Then a new Executor can be appointed by the courts or by another application from an interested party. This is useful when the Executors are overseas and cannot come to Thailand or are here and their friend nominated them without them realizing they were named Executor. A few POA's in Thai and English, notarized or legalized/accredited translated at the Dept of Foreign Affairs may, therefore, be needed. Also if the nominated Executors resigns then the courts may ask for several other documents.

 

Some cases are easy and others stretch out over years.

 

Would I use a Lawyer or trust a Lawyer?

 

With due diligence and their track record, background searches, English = of course, I would. You need one anyway. Just make sure they're on the same page as all docs are in Thai.

 

I hope this helps.