Advertorial Foreigners Who Die Without a Thai Will Could Have Assets Passed onto the Government

[Peter Denis]

1 hour ago, Jack Mountain said:

Thx for mentioning the drip-fed method. Is it something you can put into the Will? 

You can write whatever you want in your will, and it will be executed within the boundaries of the law. So you don't need to take legal aspects into consideration when writing your will, just write it as you would like to have it done and it will be executed as close as possible to your wishes but within the boundaries of what the law prescribes. 

[Peter Denis]

On 10/7/2020 at 8:16 AM, sanuk711 said:

I hope so...hope the same for mine also. This can not be applicable for married couples surely ? The only bank account I have in my own name is the one I use for Immigration, because they insist on it that way.

You can ask your bank to provide your wife with access to your personal thai bank-account, but to do that in an 'invisible way'.  That way you meet the IO requirement of a personal thai bank-account, but in case of your demise your wife will have access to the funds.

[sammieuk1]

Sounds like the rinsing continues after departure ????

[sanuk711]

5 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

You can ask your bank to provide your wife with access to your personal thai bank-account, but to do that in an 'invisible way'.  That way you meet the IO requirement of a personal thai bank-account, but in case of your demise your wife will have access to the funds.

Yer she has signing rights Peter-----Immigration cant see it it without the blue light...

[brooksie61]

If you are married then your wife will inherit it all - Refer https://info.legalzoom.com/article/does-my-spouse-inherit-everything-when-i-die

 

[ThaidDown]

3 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

Yer she has signing rights Peter-----Immigration cant see it it without the blue light...

Legally those rights cease as you become deceased.

 

Of course if the bank does not know you have died .....

 

[ThaidDown]

2 minutes ago, brooksie61 said:

If you are married then your wife will inherit it all - Refer https://info.legalzoom.com/article/does-my-spouse-inherit-everything-when-i-die

 

In Thailand she will not automatically inherit all Thai assets if there is no will.

 

 

[sirocco]

Without wanting it, Pierre Denis, you made a very beautiful pearl (your post N ° 31)
It goes without saying that if you can write anything on a will, like:
I bequeath my succulent plant to my cousin, my awful Thai dog to my mother-in-law, my houses in Mexico, my Swiss bank accounts to my mistresses (names, please) my bank accounts in Thailand for my wife, in principle, all this will be respected.
No need for a signature from your "invisible" wife.
Enjoy your meal.

[DekDaeng]

21 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

More nonsense from someone........a sales pitch for the Swede's lawyer wife!

The Thai laws re intestacy are perfectly clear. A Thai Will  ensures who will get the assets in Thailand (most usually the wife), but without a Will, assets will be distributed once the equivalent of Thai probate has been obtained.

 

'assets will be distributed'

To whom?

[TigerandDog]

On 10/9/2020 at 10:23 AM, bert bloggs said:

Her will leaves everything to me,we are partners ,and have been for over 22 yrs.

She has a will same as i have one, 

There's only one problem with that that I'm aware of and that is that a Thai cannot leave anything to a foreigner in their will, even if married. You certainly wouldn't get any land she might own, that would go to one or more of her Thai relatives. The reason I say this is my partner had her will updated recently to include me and she was told by the lawyer that she could not include a foreigner, even if married, in her will.

[TigerandDog]

9 minutes ago, DekDaeng said:

'assets will be distributed'

To whom?

whoever the govt says

[TigerandDog]

57 minutes ago, brooksie61 said:

If you are married then your wife will inherit it all - Refer https://info.legalzoom.com/article/does-my-spouse-inherit-everything-when-i-die

 

not true

[TigerandDog]

5 hours ago, Jack Mountain said:

Always wondering, specially here in Thailand, who is checking the lawyers?

Are these lawyers checked now and then?

 

Is there a central Will registration here in Thailand?

The one thing that MUST be done is that a Thai will for a foreigner MUST be in the foreigners native language AND translated to Thai. If you wish you can then register the will at your District Office.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

The family, realising they woud get nothing, took control from the widow,

 

How exactly would they be able to do that, unless the widow ended up consenting to it for some reason?

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, pennine said:

If living alone, how does anyone know who has my will when I die?

 

Because in the will, you'll need to name an executor for your probate estate, and presumably you'd want to discuss this with your intended executor in advance, either providing them a copy or at least telling them where the document is kept.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

19 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

not true

 

That webpage from Legal Zoom has nothing to do with probate law in Thailand.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Generally speaking, you want to have separate wills governing your assets in any given country. For example, one will for assets in Thailand, and a separate will for home country assets.

 

Then as regards a Thai will, generally speaking AFAIK, Thai courts don't deal with English language documents. So ideally, you want your Thai will to be written in TH and then you having an EN translation of that. That will make things a whole lot simpler when that time comes.

 

[TigerandDog]

2 hours ago, DaLa said:

Confused here, so for clarity, are they saying that a will made out in the UK is not valid? If so what is the significant difference of a 'Thai' will. My main concern is whether to have my estate completed by UK lawyers whom I believe would be more trustworthy ( think large organisation) but my Thai wife would not be comfortable communicating with. Or, Thai lawyers who would drag the proceedings out and pocket a large amount of any potential assets.

 

I did have a plan to get my savings down to 50 baht before I departed, but c-19 has restricted the use of my travel budget.

You need 2 wills PLUS a Thai Living Will. A UK will for your UK assets and a Thai will for your Thai assets. The Thai will, in your case being british, would need to be in English and also Thai. A Thai will cannot include assets outside of Thailand, which is why you need 2 wills if you have assets in the UK or elsewhere outside of LOS. The other thing you need to realise is that a Thai will MUST also include your funeral arrangements, viz. christian service & burial/cremation or Buddhist service & cremation etc.

 

I am attaching the template of my will FYI which is in english. It has been translated to Thai and both the english & Thai versions MUST be signed by 2 witnesses and preferably by your village head as well. You can then either keep both copies in your safe keeping at your home or register both copies with your District Office and they keep the wills there. However there are 2 kinds of registration. #1. Anybody can come in and ask to see the will. OR and the more secure method for privacy #2 Register the wills so that only the nominated executors can view the will but they can only do that upon production of a certified death certificate.

THAI LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT & LIVING WILL TEMPLATE.docx

[Andy from Kent]

On 10/8/2020 at 6:41 PM, bert bloggs said:

My wifes mate is a lawyer and she has just done me a thai will instead of my Brit one,sorry cant give a cost as she did it for us free, one good thing is the wife has all my pin nos everything is in her name and our accounts in UK are in joint names ,my god how have i lived so long without her kicking me out or having me killed by her (Thai husband / boyfriend)  well reading on here you would think they all are like that

,mind you its funny none of my friends wives have done that either

 

Your wife is obviously different!

 

 

22 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

More nonsense from someone........a sales pitch for the Swede's lawyer wife!

The Thai laws re intestacy are perfectly clear. A Thai Will  ensures who will get the assets in Thailand (most usually the wife), but without a Will, assets will be distributed once the equivalent of Thai probate has been obtained.

 

 

I think the lawyer in question is a friend of his wife.     Your post remains valid.

[Jack Mountain]

30 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

The one thing that MUST be done is that a Thai will for a foreigner MUST be in the foreigners native language AND translated to Thai. If you wish you can then register the will at your District Office.

I am more worried about the execution of the will .... are those people checked sometimes by a higher placed office or whatever?

Edited October 13, 2020 by Jack Mountain

[jacko45k]

40 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

There's only one problem with that that I'm aware of and that is that a Thai cannot leave anything to a foreigner in their will, even if married. You certainly wouldn't get any land she might own, that would go to one or more of her Thai relatives. The reason I say this is my partner had her will updated recently to include me and she was told by the lawyer that she could not include a foreigner, even if married, in her will.

I think that is wrong there. The foreigner can inherit the land/ property for a limited time but is required to dispose of it.

Edited October 13, 2020 by jacko45k

[Grumpy one]

On 10/8/2020 at 6:41 PM, bert bloggs said:

My wifes mate is a lawyer and she has just done me a thai will instead of my Brit one,sorry cant give a cost as she did it for us free, one good thing is the wife has all my pin nos everything is in her name and our accounts in UK are in joint names ,my god how have i lived so long without her kicking me out or having me killed by her (Thai husband / boyfriend)  well reading on here you would think they all are like that

,mind you its funny none of my friends wives have done that either

Some of us are blessed with having made the right choice for a partner.

I must admit I am a slow learner or a glutton for punishment.

Number 4 wife is my keeper

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, Grumpy one said:

Number 4 wife is my keeper

By then writing a will would be unnecessary as I would have nothing left. 

[bert bloggs]

59 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

There's only one problem with that that I'm aware of and that is that a Thai cannot leave anything to a foreigner in their will, even if married. You certainly wouldn't get any land she might own, that would go to one or more of her Thai relatives. The reason I say this is my partner had her will updated recently to include me and she was told by the lawyer that she could not include a foreigner, even if married, in her will.

It would go to our son,her family would never try to take anything,i know and am close to them as they are to me,a few even came to stay on holiday with us when we lived in the UK and we have stayed in their homes many times 

[DaLa]

1 hour ago, Jack Mountain said:

I am more worried about the execution of the will .... are those people checked sometimes by a higher placed office or whatever?

Mainly through property and business transactions in the UK, 3 of my solicitors were taken off the solicitors register for malpractice. In all 3 cases it was financial with one of them actually visiting the Queen for a period of time.

 

You can name anyone (adult and of sound mind obviously) to be executor in the UK. So it would be useful to know if that is the case here. There's nothing wrong with naming  the main beneficiary  as executor; they can then take advice accordingly and instruct other (professionals) to undertake certain aspects.  My plan ( which I really should complete NOW) is to use a firm of solicitors in Thailand, not an individual who just may be tempted to disappear. Even with a large firm I am not sure if they are regulated and offer a compensation scheme as they do in the UK.

[onebir]

10 minutes ago, DaLa said:

Mainly through property and business transactions in the UK, 3 of my solicitors were taken off the solicitors register for malpractice.

Sounds like you had quite a collection

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

I am attaching the template of my will FYI which is in english. It has been translated to Thai and both the english & Thai versions MUST be signed by 2 witnesses and preferably by your village head as well. You can then either keep both copies in your safe keeping at your home or register both copies with your District Office and they keep the wills there.

 

That can be easier said that done. Some amphur offices and khet offices in BKK aren't particularly friendly toward allowing farangs to register Thai wills with them.

 

In our case in BKK, our local khet office originally said we could. But by the time we got around to attempting to do it later, the wills staff had changed and now were saying that they would not register my will unless I was listed on a tabien ban for our home, which I am not because it's a rental.  Thus, they wouldn't register my will.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I think that is wrong there. The foreigner can inherit the land/ property for a limited time but is required to dispose of it.

 

Thai lawyers in general don't exactly have the best reputation for honesty and knowledge in the world... But that aside...

 

That advice that TigerandDog gave is simply wrong. A farang can inherit things from a Thai citizen in their will. And AFAIK, the only area where there's actually any real prohibition is regarding real estate, where as Jacko correctly notes, it can be inherited, but then has to be disposed of with a certain period of time, which generally is one year, AFAIK.

 

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, Peter Denis said:

You can ask your bank to provide your wife with access to your personal thai bank-account, but to do that in an 'invisible way'.  That way you meet the IO requirement of a personal thai bank-account, but in case of your demise your wife will have access to the funds.

Make sure it's documented and signed by the bank manager and your wife has a copy.

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

That webpage from Legal Zoom has nothing to do with probate law in Thailand.

 

True.