Can a Foreigner inherit a condo from his Thai wife if she passes way.

[khaepmu]

If the will states that the foreign husband will inherit the condo upon the death of his Thai wife would this be  legally feasible I wonder. My understanding is that  foreigner has to bring funds from abroad to own a condo. This would seem to make the will problematic.

[Susco]

1 minute ago, khaepmu said:

If the will states that the foreign husband will inherit the condo upon the death of his Thai wife would this be  legally feasible I wonder. My understanding is that  foreigner has to bring funds from abroad to own a condo. This would seem to make the will problematic.

 

A foreigner can inherit Thai property, though if it is land which a foreigner can't legally own, or a condo in the Thai quota, he will have to sell it within a timespan set by a Thai court.

 

 

[Peterw42]

I think you will find a condo can be inherited  (as described above), however, if you can show an FET for the appraised value, and there is foreign quota available, the condo can then be moved into the foreign quota at the same time. 

Weather transfer fees etc would be charged would probably come down to the local land office interpretation.

 

[Delight]

 If the will of the deceased specifies that the husband is both beneficiary and administrator -then post probate the process will be controlled by the administrator.

Just leave it there. Do not transfer.

If at some future date a Thai (or a Thai company )wishes to buy-then husband -as the administrator-will organise the sale. 

It would appear that the Thai law assumes the beneficiary(s) are keen to complete the process ASAP.

So no timescales for completion are detailed.

In order to keep a low profile ensure that all your condo bills are paid on time.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Delight

[VyacheslavKHV]

3 hours ago, Delight said:

 If the will of the deceased specifies that the husband is both beneficiary and administrator -then post probate the process will be controlled by the administrator.

Just leave it there. Do not transfer.

If at some future date a Thai (or a Thai company )wishes to buy-then husband -as the administrator-will organise the sale. 

It would appear that the Thai law assumes the beneficiary(s) are keen to complete the process ASAP.

So no timescales for completion are detailed.

In order to keep a low profile ensure that all your condo bills are paid on time.

I think they give administrator of estate only 1 year.  

[wobblyjohn]

27 minutes ago, VyacheslavKHV said:

I think they give administrator of estate only 1 year.  

I believe that is true just as you can inherent land but must be sold within 1 year however I think it may be possible to put it into a company name

Edited November 7, 2020 by wobblyjohn

[soi3eddie]

14 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

I think you will find a condo can be inherited  (as described above), however, if you can show an FET for the appraised value, and there is foreign quota available, the condo can then be moved into the foreign quota at the same time. 

Weather transfer fees etc would be charged would probably come down to the local land office interpretation.

 

Whether a court could overrule the land office interpretation is the key. I would expect the land office to want FET, Foreign quota and debt free letter from juristic person. 

I experienced a complicated process on divorce from Thai wife in getting her name removed from the chanote to my name only. The land office insisted I transfer from overseas half the value (her share) again of 2.5 million Baht. The original purchase was in joint names (my money though) and I still had the old FET document for 6 million Baht from 7 years earlier but they would not accept it. I had to pay some land transfer fees and tax but it wasn't much. Once land department was satisfied my lawyer sent money back to UK. 

If Op has a lawyer maybe they can call the relevant land office for their ruling. 

Edited November 7, 2020 by soi3eddie

[ChakaKhan]

I can certainly provide an answer if the grandpa dies and if the thai gets it.........vice versa ????

[Delight]

15 hours ago, VyacheslavKHV said:

I think they give administrator of estate only 1 year.  

 Can you quote a source for your statement?

[scorecard]

On 11/8/2020 at 9:26 PM, Delight said:

 Can you quote a source for your statement?

I can't quote a source but it's been mentioned here on TV many times over many years it's 1 year and sometimes with quotes from different law firms.

[Delight]

2 hours ago, scorecard said:

I can't quote a source but it's been mentioned here on TV many times over many years it's 1 year and sometimes with quotes from different law firms.

 The one year  time limitation is only applicable to foreigners-in all circumstances.

Probate is -in the main-for Thai people. 

A lawyer -with whom I spoke-many years ago stated that there are no time limitations with respect to probate completion.

Who is going to know?

Not the probate authorities -their job is finished

Not the land office -their job hasn't started.

No need to involve them -until the property has to be transferred.

[PeachCH]

I had this case several years ago. (Condo in Pattaya) The family disputed my claim. Had to go to court in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Won the case and the papers were transferred in my name. Despite the courts order that I have to sell in 2 years, my lawyer applied this decision and could it overturn. (in the meantime sold the condo) 

 

 

[Delight]

5 hours ago, PeachCH said:

I had this case several years ago. (Condo in Pattaya) The family disputed my claim. Had to go to court in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Won the case and the papers were transferred in my name. Despite the courts order that I have to sell in 2 years, my lawyer applied this decision and could it overturn. (in the meantime sold the condo) 

 

 

 This is a local judgement. Makes sense.

However there is no specific Thai law concerning completion timescales of probate.

[KhaoYai]

This is definitely a question for a reputable liar.

 

Land/Property of a Thai wife can be left to a foreign husband who survives her. Normally land left to a foreigner must be sold within 12 months.

 

However, and this is a total guess, if there is foreign ownership available in the condo building there may be a way of transfering the unit into that quota. The issue of a FET is mentioned here - clearly if the condo was left to you, there is no FET - this is why you should consult a lawyer.

 

My guess woud be that this matter is not covered by the law and may need a court's decision if a Land Office refused to register without a FET.

[KhaoYai]

41 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

This is definitely a question for a reputable liar.

Laughing at my own mistake - really, it was genuine and too late to edit.

 

I know they are often called 'liars' but I really did mean lawyer.

[soi3eddie]

2 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

This is definitely a question for a reputable liar.

 

Land/Property of a Thai wife can be left to a foreign husband who survives her. Normally land left to a foreigner must be sold within 12 months.

 

However, and this is a total guess, if there is foreign ownership available in the condo building there may be a way of transfering the unit into that quota. The issue of a FET is mentioned here - clearly if the condo was left to you, there is no FET - this is why you should consult a lawyer.

 

My guess woud be that this matter is not covered by the law and may need a court's decision if a Land Office refused to register without a FET.

 

Excellent post. Nails the crux of the subject regarding transfer. One would hope that the court would have higher authority than a government land office. Would like to know how it is in reality. 

 

As a side note, my ex on divorce was refusing to sign transfer docs for her share back to me of my BKK condo (already agreed by her in UK divorce court). I fully expected to need to instruct Thai lawyers to effect land transfer not knowing how it would work out. Thankfully in the end my barrister persuaded her to sign. I still had to remit FET again for agreed value of her share though. 

[madisongy]

I realize this is the inverse of the OP, but I'm guessing more straightforward.   Our Bangkok condo is in my name.  I have the documents showing funds transferred to Thailand when I bought it 10 years ago.   Does Thailand land office recognize a US will or would it make more sense to transfer it into her name now?   

If transfer now, is a transfer at the land office possible to do on our own, or do we need to navigate special "fees" for the officer helping us?

[KhaoYai]

10 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

I still had to remit FET again for agreed value of her share though.

I can understand the FET in your case but some replies here are saying its needed in the OP's case, I really don't understand why.  An FET has to be shown when a foreigner buys a condo but why would that be needed for an inheritance? 

 

There will be people out there who's Thai wife already owned a condo before they married, or the wife could have bought a condo in her own name, with her own money after they were married - the husband may never have had any financial input. In fact, my Thai friend has owned a condo in Bangkok for several years - last year she married a foreigner.

 

As far as I know, the law that says land left to a foreign husband by a Thai wife must be sold within 12 months is to comply with the Thai Land Law that prevents foreigners from owning land.  A condo is a different animal though - although this scenario was probably never included in the condo ownership law.

 

Provided foreign quota is available, I would have thought a reasonable court would rule favourably on this - but with a caveat that we are talking about Thailand where things aren't always reasonable.  We hear a lot from people who appear to have been badly treated by the courts but I'm reading more and more cases where the courts have acted fairly. Foreigners don't always lose - that's just barstool talk. Even when they do, there's often more to the case than meets the eye.

Edited November 11, 2020 by KhaoYai

[Peterw42]

12 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Provided foreign quota is available, I would have thought a reasonable court to rule favourably on this - but with a caveat that we are talking about Thailand where things aren't always reasonable.  We hear a lot from people who appear to have been badly treated by the courts but I'm reading more and more cases where the courts have acted fairly. Foreigners don't always lose - that's just barstool talk. Even when they do, there's often more to the case than meets the eye.

 

Yes it would be a reasonable ruling but a court cant pass down a ruling that is contrary to an existing law, ie: foreign quota funds must come from outside Thailand. 

 

Keep in mind, any money that you bring into Thailand can generate an FET, the guy inheriting could get an FET for his last  3-4  800k transfers, or a transfer to buy a car etc. Most expats could generate FETs from funds they have transferred over the years.

[soi3eddie]

8 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

 

Yes it would be a reasonable ruling but a court cant pass down a ruling that is contrary to an existing law, ie: foreign quota funds must come from outside Thailand. 

 

Keep in mind, any money that you bring into Thailand can generate an FET, the guy inheriting could get an FET for his last  3-4  800k transfers, or a transfer to buy a car etc. Most expats could generate FETs from funds they have transferred over the years.

 

But the FET must explicitly state the purpose of the transfer i.e "For purchase of condo room #123, Building name, full address". Hard to do that on monthly transfers and possibly not accepted by land department. 

[Peterw42]

2 hours ago, madisongy said:

I realize this is the inverse of the OP, but I'm guessing more straightforward.   Our Bangkok condo is in my name.  I have the documents showing funds transferred to Thailand when I bought it 10 years ago.   Does Thailand land office recognize a US will or would it make more sense to transfer it into her name now?   

If transfer now, is a transfer at the land office possible to do on our own, or do we need to navigate special "fees" for the officer helping us?

You could transfer the property now but it would be subject to the normal transfer fees and taxes like any transfer/sale would be.

Presuming your partner is your wife, being your net of kin, she would (eventually, after probate etc) inherit your Thai assets even without a Thai will

An easy solution would be to do a Thai will.

[Peterw42]

33 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

 

But the FET must explicitly state the purpose of the transfer i.e "For purchase of condo room #123, Building name, full address". Hard to do that on monthly transfers and possibly not accepted by land department. 

 

I think you will find the "for a condo" statement is a Bank of Thailand requirement (anti money laundering) not necessarily a land office requirement. I have purchased 3 condos over the years and never put that statement when transferring the money. 

 

The bank, when generating the FET, can write any statement you want, the statement isn't a copy of what the bank deposit says. 

(some banks only give you a 20 character limit)

The last condo I purchased, I literally got an FET for my last 800k retire funds and the land office was happy. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Peterw42

[KhaoYai]

10 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Yes it would be a reasonable ruling but a court cant pass down a ruling that is contrary to an existing law, ie: foreign quota funds must come from outside Thailand.

Yes, for purchase but we are not talking about a purchase - this would be by inheritance. Clearly, if someone is left a condo in their wife's will, they didn't bring in the funds to buy it.