Deceased Thai wife, how to do with house?

[Joe2050]

In the case of the Thai wife passed away, how to do for the house registration? Can the foreigner husband become the owner of the house? How to make the change, what documents are required?

Thanks for your help

 

[steve187]

can inherit the house if on land of 1 rai or less, but has to be sold/ transferred  within 1 year, may be wrong on the land size but the 1 year is correct

[Joe2050]

Thanks Steve, very useful...

[Bredbury Blue]

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1153613-protecting-my-right-to-live-in-our-house-should-my-wife-die/#comments

[Antonymous]

Sorry for your loss.

 

If you are legally married to your wife, I believe that you will inherit the property, but as said, must sell it to a Thai within one year of probate (that can be much longer than one year).

 

A Will supersedes this however so if your wife has a valid Will and leaves the house to a relative or anyone else, that presents problems for you.

 

If you are not legally married and there is no Will, the property will go to her relatives according to a strict hierarchy as laid down by Thai law.

 

 

[baansgr]

Need to check any valid last will and testaments. As next of kin if legally married you should be the beneficiary if no will has been made. As stated, you can live there and sell within a 12 month period. Without, talking badly about your in-laws, seek advice of a lawyer, I have seen so many times where it has been made too bad for the foreigner to continue living in the property by the in-laws. I hope you are not in an Issan village somewhere surrounded by them. Your post ain't clear if you are widowed or planning for the future

[baansgr]

Need to check any valid last will and testaments. As next of kin if legally married you should be the beneficiary if no will has been made. As stated, you can live there and sell within a 12 month period. Without, talking badly about your in-laws, seek advice of a lawyer, I have seen so many times where it has been made too bad for the foreigner to continue living in the property by the in-laws. I hope you are not in an Issan village somewhere surrounded by them. Your post ain't clear if you are widowed or planning for the future

[Joe2050]

Thanks to all for your valuable comments 

[keithcresswell]

The Land office only gave me 6 months to sell the house. Fortunately I was able to do this, and am now renting the house back off of the new owner. I don't know if anyone would have chased me if I hadn't sold it in time.

 

[JayBird]

What happens if you have a 30 year lease in your name and inherit the property but can not sell within a year?

[maprao]

Do you have any children with you wife?

If so make a will.

 

Ensure the land the house sits on belongs to your child or sell it to them when the 1 year is up. The house should also be mentioned in her will as being left to you. This saves any problems with relatives. You can then have a yellow book as housemaster for Immigration purposes. Try and do the yellow book before your wife passes. Your own address as housemaster is indicated in the book.

 

As discussed many times before neither the yellow book of blue book indicates ownership.  It's just who lives at the address.

[Odin Norway]

15 minutes ago, JayBird said:

What happens if you have a 30 year lease in your name and inherit the property but can not sell within a year?

Your lease is valid,but you need to transfere the owner name.With the lease it dont matter who,but the land must be in a living persons name.If you have kids with your wife it does not matter.It will go to the kids.They can sell it with a lease but who want to buy a land with a lease on.

[NoBrains]

20 minutes ago, JayBird said:

What happens if you have a 30 year lease in your name and inherit the property but can not sell within a year?

If the house is on the name of the Thai wife and you legaly married to a Thai then a 30 year lease on name of the husband/foreiger is not possible.
In my case the landoffice refused the lease.

[roath]

I see a lot of people quoting one year, but I am not sure that that is the actual official time. My understanding is that the time in which you were required to transfer is 6 months, on which another poster with direct experience, seems to be confirming. This being Thailand, the actual period may vary from land office to land office, so best to check with them or a local lawyer.  I believe that it is possible to apply for an extension, which is perhaps why people are quoting a year.  

 

Also, people keep going on about selling the property. in fact, all that is required is to transfer the ownership, which is usually far less difficult to arrange than an outright sale e.g. to Thai kids or friends or relatives (subject to your retaining the rights and if necessary signing new documentation to confirm the position regarding your entitlement to remain in the property)

[VocalNeal]

Get remarried within a year? Sell house to new wife start again. Just a thought.

[Antonymous]

7 minutes ago, roath said:

I see a lot of people quoting one year, but I am not sure that that is the actual official time. My understanding is that the time in which you were required to transfer is 6 months, on which another poster with direct experience, seems to be confirming. This being Thailand, the actual period may vary from land office to land office, so best to check with them or a local lawyer.  I believe that it is possible to apply for an extension, which is perhaps why people are quoting a year.  

 

Also, people keep going on about selling the property. in fact, all that is required is to transfer the ownership, which is usually far less difficult to arrange than an outright sale e.g. to Thai kids or friends or relatives (subject to your retaining the rights and if necessary signing new documentation to confirm the position regarding your entitlement to remain in the property)

 

Whether you call it selling or transfer, the same taxes will have to be paid at the Land Office and ownership will change. There is no difference.

[roath]

20 minutes ago, Antonymous said:

 

Whether you call it selling or transfer, the same taxes will have to be paid at the Land Office and ownership will change. There is no difference.

There is clearly an enormous and substantive difference between selling and transferring a property legally and practically.

 

Transferring ownership can be done without substantive consideration being paid and without you being required to vacate the property. 

 

Selling invariably means someone buying the property for valuable consideration and you not being able to remain on the property

 

A lot of people are referring to the OP having to sell the property which suggests the latter, and the OP may not appreciate that he can do the former. I am just clarifying the point

 

You are correct that transfer fees will have to be paid regardless. There is no way around that

[lensta]

1 hour ago, JayBird said:

What happens if you have a 30 year lease in your name and inherit the property but can not sell within a year?

Sell it to a Thai company which you control. You will need to foot the bill for the transfer but in the end the house will be owned by a Thai company that you control.

[LivinLOS]

3 hours ago, keithcresswell said:

The Land office only gave me 6 months to sell the house. Fortunately I was able to do this, and am now renting the house back off of the new owner. I don't know if anyone would have chased me if I hadn't sold it in time.

 

Always wondered how that was enforced.. 

My first wife passed way back in early 2000s but back then I / we didnt have significant assets. 

 

[steve73]

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Get remarried within a year? Sell house to new wife start again. Just a thought.

Potential "new wives' will be queuing up for such a wonderful opportunity...

[aboctok]

6 hours ago, lensta said:

Sell it to a Thai company which you control. You will need to foot the bill for the transfer but in the end the house will be owned by a Thai company that you control.

Can a foreigner legally hold a controlling interest in a Thai company?

[Odin Norway]

2 hours ago, aboctok said:

Can a foreigner legally hold a controlling interest in a Thai company?

No.You can only have 49%

[DaRoadrunner]

2 hours ago, aboctok said:

8 hours ago, lensta said:

Sell it to a Thai company which you control. You will need to foot the bill for the transfer but in the end the house will be owned by a Thai company that you control.

Can a foreigner legally hold a controlling interest in a Thai company?

You can control by being the only director with a voting share. Problem is, the authorities could say that the other (Thai) directors are merely nominees and the company was set up for the sole purpose of allowing a Farang to own a house. This is a vague loophole area in Thai law.

[Lacessit]

9 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Get remarried within a year? Sell house to new wife start again. Just a thought.

What did the OP ever do to you?

[ericthai]

13 hours ago, lensta said:

Sell it to a Thai company which you control. You will need to foot the bill for the transfer but in the end the house will be owned by a Thai company that you control.

People do this but it's in a gray area, also to have a Thai company you need a Thai partner that will hold 51% of the company.  

[KhaoYai]

10 hours ago, aboctok said:

Can a foreigner legally hold a controlling interest in a Thai company?

You hold the controlling interest not by the % of shares you have but by your shares being preferential with voting rights. You take away the voting rights from all other shareholders and you make sure that you and only you, can sign company documents.  All this must be written into the company's articles and you should also put a plan into place that deals with the position regarding your shares in the event of your death. It is not good enough to simply leave your shares to someone, they must be given the same rights as you so the documents need to be carefully written to prevent the other directors taking control. Therefore, it is far better if you make a will, your benificiaries are named and that they understand the company structure. You need a very good lawyer to do this properly.

 

Note that the figure of 49% foreign shareholding is not acceptable to many Land Offices if the company owns land - some stipulate 39% as the maximum.

 

More importantly, should a company's structure be challenged legally any property it owns can be lost if it can be shown that the company was formed purely as a way for a foreigner to 'own' land and thereby circumvent the Thai land laws. The company should trade and should have a reason to own land. Simply paying a little tax each year will not protect you from a good legal challenge.

[JayBird]

In my situation (Thai GF, not legally married, but together for 10+ years).

 

Buy land in her name.  Get a 'lease' (usufruct?) for 30 years.  (With possible for 30 year extension, even tho this might be questionably enforceable).  In the event that the GF dies, do one of the following:

 

1) Transfer ownership to another Thai person that can be trusted, and have the safety net of the 30 year lease.  Perhaps sign a new 30-year lease at the time as well?

 

2) Establish a Thai Company, take 39% (or 49%?) ownership, transfer the house into the company, then arrange for the company to do some form of legitimate trade.

 

As an alternative:

Form Thai Company from start, get 39% or 49% ownership.  And make sure it does a legitimate trade (something the Thai person is wholly responsible for).  In the event of death of the Thai GF, transfer the shares to another Thai person who can then continue the trade or take on a new trade.

 

I suspect that a dedicated office for the purpose of engaging in this trade (perhaps online work, secretarial work, back office work, not necessary that there be 'customers' coming in), would legitimize the company claim.

 

Sound good?

 

(On the plus side, in the event that I die, no paperwork for her.... I hate paperwork, so I hope that I'm off first ???? )

 

 

[Hanuman2547]

Unfortunately I went through this same situation 15 years ago.  My oldest luk krung son at the time was 19 and studying at university in the USA.  When he turned 20 I had him come back to Bangkok and the house and land was then put in his name.  He had everything he needed such as name on tabian bahn, Thai ID, and passport.  It was all pretty straight forward and not too difficult to do.  At the time we had one year to come into compliance with the transfer.  In reality the Land Office knows nothing about it until we filed which was 10 months after she passed away.