What happens if a farang retiree dies in Thailand ?

[thairookie]

Will you be buried in Thailand ?  Or your body will be air flown back to your native country ?

[orchis]

depends on your will and instructions

[hoxman]

As they say in Thailand "up to you"

[thairookie]

What if you didn't make a will ?  What will the Thai government do to your body ?

[robblok]

1 minute ago, thairookie said:

What if you didn't make a will ?  What will the Thai government do to your body ?

No will no money.. i think they will send you off to a tempel. Maybe sell your possessions to pay for the funeral who knows. What do you care.. I mean if you cared you would have made a will and aranged things before. Once your dead you cant do much anymore. 

[bodga]

If  your'e dead who cares, leave me  at the side of the road for the crows  as  long as the Thai govt don't get their filthy stained hands on my cash I don't care, burn me, bury me, eat me whatever.

[DaLa]

I think it's the same as in other countries.  You stop breathing, your brain stops functioning, and generally it's all a bit messy. I'm trying to avoid it if at all possible.

[bert bloggs]

You stop worrying about the exchange rate and the baht being so strong?

[Peterw42]

Your body wont automatically be flown home unless your friends/relatives arrange and pay for it. A funeral wont automatically happen either, unless friends relatives arrange and pay for it.

If you die in Thailand with no will or friends/relatives to arrange a funeral, you would most likely be cremated as an unclaimed body.

There are usually no burials in Thailand, only cremations.

 

Edited June 8, 2020 by Peterw42

[orchis]

your embassy will be contacted and they sort it out, if no one wants your body after a while, cremated. bye bye.

[stouricks]

46 minutes ago, orchis said:

depends on your will and instructions

What is confusing you Rookie?

Edited June 8, 2020 by stouricks

[bkk6060]

27 minutes ago, orchis said:

your embassy will be contacted and they sort it out

One of the most naive and unprepared ways of thinking of too many who live here.

Leave it up to the embassy is not a responsible way to handle it especially if a person has some assets here and family overseas.  A big guessing game leaving any family with no clue. 

Everyone should have a Thai will and or legal instructions as to how you want things handled.  Also, a trust and will in their home country.

Unless they have no family at all and are penniless.  In that case no one will care anyway.

[Steve Vincent]

Depends on the retiree,. Being retired you would like to think a will and instructions were left behind in the case of death. who to contact blah blah / person of death embassy would also be notified. Who’s job would be to contact the persons relatives as majority of people have written in there passport at the back 2 persons to contact in the event of death. 

[OneMoreFarang]

The embassy will be informed.

The embassy will try to find any family members "back home".

Then these family members should contact a funeral and/or repatriation company in Thailand. Some embassies give names of possible companies to the family.

Then the family contacts one of those repatriation companies and hires them to sort this out.

What the repatriation company will do:

- They talk to the embassy to get the details

- Check for bills to pay, i.e. hospital, etc.

- They talk to the family what the family wants. I.e. repatriation of the body, cremation in Thailand with or without big ceremony, transport or scattering of the ashes.

- Getting documentation from embassy, police, etc.

- Translation of those documents

- Maybe sending personal items to the family

- And many other details.

Cost of such a service is about 50,000B including everything excluding external bills like i.e. hospital.

[Brunolem]

1 hour ago, DaLa said:

I think it's the same as in other countries.  

Wrong!!!

 

Thailand not same!

 

A dead farang retiree will be reincarnated, as a go-go dancer, or as an immigration officer.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Brunolem

[OneMoreFarang]

11 minutes ago, Steve Vincent said:

Depends on the retiree,. Being retired you would like to think a will and instructions were left behind in the case of death. who to contact blah blah / person of death embassy would also be notified. Who’s job would be to contact the persons relatives as majority of people have written in there passport at the back 2 persons to contact in the event of death. 

You would think that should be the case...

In reality many of the people who die here have (almost) no contact anymore to their family back home. And somehow many seem to think everything will be sorted automatically.

Many also seem to think their Thai girlfriend will decide what to do. Wrong!

[ChipButty]

If you die alone and destitute dont worry Thailand will take care and burn you, surplus to requirements 

[CNXexpat]

What happens if a farang retiree dies in Thailand ?

He or she is dead. 

 

What happens with the dead body and the fortune? 

Up to him or her - if he or she made a last will before.

[Laughing Gravy]

You will not be able to or have the need to reply to ambiguous threads on TV????.

 

If you were more specific then the replies could address the situation but what will happen if you die, so many answers.

[pineapple01]

Ive paid for my ashes to go to our nearby Wat with the rest of the Family. Safer than going to far when i could be killed in a Road Accident.

[Captain Monday]

The cost of embalming, casket and repatriation flight of a corpse so excessive most would choose

cremation over "body sent back home". Cremation is forbidden in Islam and I think Judaism but 

in Islam it must be done quickly so a local burial would be proper. 

 

Just get a will.

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by Captain Monday

[noise]

16 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

The embassy will be informed.

The embassy will try to find any family members "back home".

Then these family members should contact a funeral and/or repatriation company in Thailand. Some embassies give names of possible companies to the family.

Then the family contacts one of those repatriation companies and hires them to sort this out.

What the repatriation company will do:

- They talk to the embassy to get the details

- Check for bills to pay, i.e. hospital, etc.

- They talk to the family what the family wants. I.e. repatriation of the body, cremation in Thailand with or without big ceremony, transport or scattering of the ashes.

- Getting documentation from embassy, police, etc.

- Translation of those documents

- Maybe sending personal items to the family

- And many other details.

Cost of such a service is about 50,000B including everything excluding external bills like i.e. hospital.

This is what happened in the cases I have been involved in but I would modify it just a little bit.  The embassies are notified and they will try to fine the NEXT OF KIN.  It is the next of kin rather than just family members who make the arrangements.  In cases where the expat is married to a Thai, the surviving spouse is the next of kin and responsible for making any and all arrangements.  There have been cases when the next of kin in the U.S. has formally authorized through the Embassy the girl friend to act for them as she see fit.

[Rimmer]

A nasty troll post has been removed

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, noise said:

This is what happened in the cases I have been involved in but I would modify it just a little bit.  The embassies are notified and they will try to fine the NEXT OF KIN.  It is the next of kin rather than just family members who make the arrangements.  In cases where the expat is married to a Thai, the surviving spouse is the next of kin and responsible for making any and all arrangements.  There have been cases when the next of kin in the U.S. has formally authorized through the Embassy the girl friend to act for them as she see fit.

Thanks for the clarification. I agree.

 

Maybe some farangs here should be aware that if they are not married then their next of kin (often back home) will decide alone what will happen. The Thai girlfriend has officially nothing to say. So if a farang wants that there is a cremation and a "party" for his girlfriend and friends then he should put that in writing.

I know that many relatives from back home chose often the cheapest existing option. Cremation, no special ceremony, get rid of the ashes and that's it. And often they don't care if there is a Thai girlfriend or not.

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, pineapple01 said:

I've paid for my ashes to go to our nearby Wat with the rest of the Family.

How do those still living feel about that?

[pineapple01]

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

How do those still living feel about that?

Very Happy thank You for asking.

[ChipButty]

Send my ashes to the tax man, he's had everything else

[roger101]

7 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Send my ashes to the tax man, he's had everything else

Best comment I've read in ages.

[Brunolem]

58 minutes ago, roger101 said:

Best comment I've read in ages.

May I suggest you to read more...

Edited June 9, 2020 by Brunolem

[Pattaya46]

4 hours ago, noise said:

// The embassies are notified and they will try to fine the NEXT OF KIN.  It is the next of kin rather than just family members who make the arrangements.  In cases where the expat is married to a Thai, the surviving spouse is the next of kin and responsible for making any and all arrangements. //

Good post, but be aware that rules may be a little bit different depending of your country. Good to have a read on your embassy or consulate website IMHO.