Hi Folks,

This is the situation:

Foreigner (USA) lived with Thai GF in Thailand. He owned a car in Thailand.
He got ill, went back to USA for treatments, but there he died.
Shortly before he died he sent a LINE message to his GF that she could take the car.
Not any signed documentation. 
 
I helped her in asking his sons to send documentation that they - as heirs - will donate the car to her. They agreed to do so.
Hope to receive these in a few weeks. With copy of the passports of father and son and copy of blue book, copy passport GF, copy of  LINE message.
Am I correct that they need to fill in the Thai document  "title transfer application form' as well?
Will this be enough for the (Land?) Transportation Office, or does she have to go to court to get permission from the court to transfer the car?
How much will this cost? (Lawyer needed?)

A complicated factor to all this is that a nurse who helped the GF in taking care of the ill American, took the car and the blue book and parked the car at an unknown address of an unknown friend. The address of the nurse is known, but she won't say anything. The police will only act regarding this nurse with documentation of the heirs of the American. So, we hope to pass this hurdle soon.

And advice from experienced or expert people will be much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Steven
 

Best go ask DLT in the area the car is registered and ask them wants needed otherwise it's just a guessing game IMHO. 

 

I know you will need a photocopy of the guys passport page where the immi exit stamp of Thailand is. 

Maybe you also need "dying certificate"?

The second part of your post is way more worrying.

The nurse can deny all, as there is no proof?! She already appears to look like a bi**h, by not telling where car is. So it depends on how hard she can and wants to play it.

Succes

Take GF and copy of owner's passport down to the local Amphere's office, slip in an envelope and "marry" him with the date before he left. Then have the nurse arrested for car theft.

1 hour ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Maybe you also need "dying certificate"?

The second part of your post is way more worrying.

The nurse can deny all, as there is no proof?! She already appears to look like a bi**h, by not telling where car is. So it depends on how hard she can and wants to play it.

Succes

Death certificate will be taken care of/. It is essential

27 minutes ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Take GF and copy of owner's passport down to the local Amphere's office, slip in an envelope and "marry" him with the date before he left. Then have the nurse arrested for car theft.

Ha ha, nice and creative idea. But when my GF meets a person at the office who got a strong spine and doesn't like to be bribed, a lot of trouble will be poured over my GF.

We prefer doing it with documentation from the heirs (sons).

Still, my question is: is a court procedure required to put the car on her name (once she got it back from the thieves). If yes, how much will this cost (including a rough estimation of lawyer expenses - difficult to answer, I realize).

the nurse may have pawned the car or sold it as she has the blue book

2 minutes ago, d4dang said:

the nurse may have pawned the car or sold it as she has the blue book

That crossed my mind, also.

But if the name in the blue book has changed, someone in the Land Transport Office must have been bribed.
Next, the copy of the passport of the American with his signature and other things are needed:

How to Transfer the Ownership of a Vehicle to Your Name in Thailand 

The Buyer needs to bring the following to the Land Transport Office:

• Vehicle
• Vehicle ownership booklet
• Passport/ID
• Application form signed by the seller (form available at the office)

In addition, you’ll need either of the following from the Seller:

• Signed copy of national ID card if the seller is a Thai citizen
• Signed copy of passport info and visa pages if the seller is a foreigner 
  
  So, there must be a trail of falsifications (however: this is Thailand), so will a procedure to find al this be successful.
•  

for the others reading this, if you care about your spouse, get a simple will 

6 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

for the others reading this, if you care about your spouse, get a simple will 

My wifes besty is a lawyer she did this for us years ago,also my wife and son lived in the UK with my daughter before she was married ,our family thank goodness is very close, so glad we will never have problems when i go.

37 minutes ago, Steven55 said:

Still, my question is: is a court procedure required to put the car on her name

If they were married legally then the court would had issued a succession/possession certificate.

@Steven55 Its best to approach the DLT which issued the "car book" and get a definitive answer.

Guy died outside the country.

 

Car essentially belongs to the possessor + person with the book.

 

Don't even bother

11 hours ago, Steven55 said:

That crossed my mind, also.

But if the name in the blue book has changed, someone in the Land Transport Office must have been bribed.
Next, the copy of the passport of the American with his signature and other things are needed:

How to Transfer the Ownership of a Vehicle to Your Name in Thailand 

The Buyer needs to bring the following to the Land Transport Office:

• Vehicle
• Vehicle ownership booklet
• Passport/ID
• Application form signed by the seller (form available at the office)

In addition, you’ll need either of the following from the Seller:

• Signed copy of national ID card if the seller is a Thai citizen
• Signed copy of passport info and visa pages if the seller is a foreigner 
  
  So, there must be a trail of falsifications (however: this is Thailand), so will a procedure to find al this be successful.
•  

If she was loooking after him for a while getting a photocopy of his id/ passport probably isnt too hard. He may have even signed it.

11 hours ago, Steven55 said:

But if the name in the blue book has changed, someone in the Land Transport Office must have been bribed.

Not necessarily. The legal transfer of ownership can easily be facilitated at an LTO with a signed Power Of Attorney issued by a lawyer. However, the LTO does not due any due diligence on the authenticity of any PoA or the signatures thereupon. If the applicant pays their fees, they will do the transfer.

if he hadn't signed the blue book, the signature on the power of attorney could easily 'match', or in case if he already signed on the book, be made to match. along with on any of the photo copy

and the LTO will process the transfer, best to have supporting document like  a receipt of the 'sale'

 

it's best if they only know that he left the country and sent the letters from abroad, if he'd died they'd insist to see appointment of estate executor via the court.... 

17 hours ago, Steven55 said:

A complicated factor to all this is that a nurse who helped the GF in taking care of the ill American, took the car and the blue book and parked the car at an unknown address of an unknown friend

Did anybody check the LINE messages from the nurse? Maybe he also told her she will get the car...

12 hours ago, Steven55 said:

But if the name in the blue book has changed, someone in the Land Transport Office must have been bribed.

No!

A long time ago I bought a motorcycle (big bike) from a dealer. I received the book and a couple of signed papers from the previous owner. I never met the previous owner and I don't know if he signed those papers.

 

Years later I sold the bike to a guy. I gave him the book and papers just like I received them. Done. No questions asked. That seems to be not unusual in Thailand.

 

P.S.: I had continuous contact with the dealer who serviced the bike and as I know he renewed the tax every year. 

Transferring the car is probably not too big of a deal, but you will need the car and the blue book to do the ownership transfer.

To file a police report against the theft the presence of the heirs might be necessary though.

20 hours ago, Steven55 said:

And advice from experienced or expert people will be much appreciated.

 

On another thread not so long ago if someone can find the member here, posted a place Chiang Mai that can with transfers of vehicles of people who have left Thailand.

On 8/7/2022 at 1:53 PM, Steven55 said:

And advice from experienced or expert people will be much appreciated.

Sorry, you'll only get Thaivisa posters' advice!    Only kidding...sort of.

On 8/7/2022 at 1:53 PM, Steven55 said:

I helped her in asking his sons to send documentation that they - as heirs - will donate the car to her. They agreed to do so.

I don't understand how his sons in the US could assume ownership of property in Thailand (the car), particularly as he, presumably, didn't leave it to his sons in his will as he'd already promised the car to his girlfriend.

20 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said:

Take GF and copy of owner's passport down to the local Amphere's office, slip in an envelope and "marry" him with the date before he left. Then have the nurse arrested for car theft.

Ridiculous, obviously, but, even if she did do that, property owned by him before the marriage does not become hers.

20 hours ago, Steven55 said:

Still, my question is: is a court procedure required to put the car on her name (once she got it back from the thieves).

I don't see how the car can ever be put into her name, she's not mentioned in the will, presumably, the Line message means nothing legally, she was just a girlfriend, not his wife and she doesn't have possession of the car or its documents.   Even looks as though she doesn't have anymore "entitlement" to the car than the nurse does.

19 hours ago, DrJoy said:

If they were married legally then the court would had issued a succession/possession certificate.

If they were married, he wouldn't be referring to her as the girlfriend.

19 hours ago, BonMot said:

Guy died outside the country.

 

Car essentially belongs to the possessor + person with the book.

 

Don't even bother

Essentially, that's b0llocks legally, but in reality your advice is probably the best.

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

I don't understand how his sons in the US could assume ownership of property in Thailand (the car), particularly as he, presumably, didn't leave it to his sons in his will as he'd already promised the car to his girlfriend.

They won't. I would expect that even if one of them was given a free ticket they wouldn't come over here and spend the amount of time and money that it would take to wrestle that car away from whomever and see that it's put in their name and then resell it.

 

That doesn't change the situation

21 hours ago, BonMot said:

Guy died outside the country.

 

Car essentially belongs to the possessor + person with the book.

 

Don't even bother

That's your best answer. Don't even bother. Every year my missus renews my car rego for me, she just takes the blue book and in she goes, it's in my name, but nobody ever asks anything, she renews it and pays the money, end of story. So in this case GF just keeps the car, it's not in her name but so what? She'll probably have a bit of trouble if she tried to sell it but as long as she just wants to use the car for her own purposes then no problems, just keep the car and run it into the ground. When it's knackered, flog it off for parts.

14 minutes ago, BonMot said:

They won't. I would expect that even if one of them was given a free ticket they wouldn't come over here and spend the amount of time and money that it would take to wrestle that car away from whomever and see that it's put in their name and then resell it.

 

That doesn't change the situation

"That doesn't change the situation".

Didn't say that it would.