Thai with foreign citizenship still own land ?

[songhklasid]

G'day all, since building house & rental properties, ( land was purchased in Thai name )my wife has become a naturalised Australian , is she still entitled to own land , real estate in Thailand, she still has Thai ID card in married name ? 

thank you for replies.

Songhklasid.

[ThailandRyan]

She will always be classified as a Thai national.

[Callmeishmael]

Prior to '97 (I think that's the year) Thai women who married foreigners lost the right to own land in Thailand.  However, the law was changed at that time.  Occasionally you will encounter people, even government officials, who do not know about the change in the law. 

 

If someone argues that the old rules still apply, stand your ground and try to talk to their superior. 

[Sato]

In most land offices, as soon as the land office realize that the thai woman is married with a farang (e.g. because of her farang family name), the thai wife will only be able to buy land if her farang husband signes a letter, where he confirms that his wife is buying the land with her own funds she has from the time before they were married. In this way they want to make sure, that in case of a divorce the land goes to the wife. Furthermore in this letter husband waive his rights to the land.

[moogradod]

1 hour ago, Sato said:

In most land offices, as soon as the land office realize that the thai woman is married with a farang (e.g. because of her farang family name), the thai wife will only be able to buy land if her farang husband signes a letter, where he confirms that his wife is buying the land with her own funds she has from the time before they were married. In this way they want to make sure, that in case of a divorce the land goes to the wife. Furthermore in this letter husband waive his rights to the land.

And this is as well the case if the wife has not changed nationality ? The "funds clause" becomes useless as well if the husband waives all rights to the land anyway with the letter you mention.

 

So I believe that as long the Thai wife has not acquired a new citizenship at marriage and the husband signs that he will waive any rights to land she buys the origin of funds are neglectable. It could be from a lottery win or present from within her family while she is married. Then you say "in most land offices". How come you know and where would that be and where not ?

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Sato said:

In most land offices, as soon as the land office realize that the thai woman is married with a farang (e.g. because of her farang family name), the thai wife will only be able to buy land if her farang husband signes a letter, where he confirms that his wife is buying the land with her own funds she has from the time before they were married. In this way they want to make sure, that in case of a divorce the land goes to the wife. Furthermore in this letter husband waive his rights to the land.

Did not have that issue in Udon Thani, Nong Saeng.  Walked into the Land office with the now ex-wife when we bought a 2 rai parcel next to the house we built, showed the paperwork indicating it had been paid from our joint SCB account, she signed the land title and I was added to the back with a usufruct.  The entire parcel was then transferred to the daughter upon our divorce and I signed those documents as well as the ex-wife.

[LukKrueng]

On 3/30/2022 at 1:13 PM, Callmeishmael said:

Prior to '97 (I think that's the year) Thai women who married foreigners lost the right to own land in Thailand.  However, the law was changed at that time.  Occasionally you will encounter people, even government officials, who do not know about the change in the law. 

 

If someone argues that the old rules still apply, stand your ground and try to talk to their superior. 

I think the law was changed a bit earlier than 1997 (around 1991-2) but not sure about the date.

Even before that change, a Thai woman who already owned a property or more than 49% of a business could keep the property without any problems. She wouldn't be able to buy more property nor establish a business in which she held more than 49%. But as you wrote - that law has changed many years ago and I have never heard of any land office refusing to transfer a title deed to a Thai woman married to a no-Thai.

 

 

On 3/30/2022 at 1:53 PM, Sato said:

In most land offices, as soon as the land office realize that the thai woman is married with a farang (e.g. because of her farang family name), the thai wife will only be able to buy land if her farang husband signes a letter, where he confirms that his wife is buying the land with her own funds she has from the time before they were married. In this way they want to make sure, that in case of a divorce the land goes to the wife. Furthermore in this letter husband waive his rights to the land.

I only read about such cases here on the forum. I'm pretty sure it's a misconception of the procedure. Actually any married Thai person - men or women - have to get their spouse's approval to buy/sell property (and same for non-Thais in case of a condo ownership). No problem for single/divorced/widowed people.