I have a friend whom I wish to carry out my wishes for a funeral / cremation in a local Watt.
Under British law firstly next of kin in UK must approve and the document "signed off" by a lawyer in UK.    Can anyone confirm this is necessary ?
 

This is then sent by my daughter to me.

The document must be translated in to Thai.  This document would on my death enable release of the body for cremation.

 

In my Will which relates only to the funeral I must nominate the person to carry out my wishes ( and this must be written by a lawyer in English and Thai ), attached with the English / Thai document from my daughter

My questions are-

Has anyone had experience of this ?

Does anyone know of a lawyer in Banphai or Khon Kaen that has knowledge of this and can do translations ?

I seem to be stuck in a spiral of what to do first etc

Might be worth checking this out.

 

12 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

I have a friend whom I wish to carry out my wishes for a funeral / cremation in a local Watt.
Under British law firstly next of kin in UK must approve and the document "signed off" by a lawyer in UK.    Can anyone confirm this is necessary ?
 

This is then sent by my daughter to me.

The document must be translated in to Thai.  This document would on my death enable release of the body for cremation.

 

In my Will which relates only to the funeral I must nominate the person to carry out my wishes ( and this must be written by a lawyer in English and Thai ), attached with the English / Thai document from my daughter

My questions are-

Has anyone had experience of this ?

Does anyone know of a lawyer in Banphai or Khon Kaen that has knowledge of this and can do translations ?

I seem to be stuck in a spiral of what to do first etc

Surely that can't be right. What if you don't have any family in the UK?

29 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

Under British law firstly next of kin in UK must approve and the document "signed off" by a lawyer in UK

That sounds incorrect so please provide the link where that article of British law is stated.   Further, very many of us have our next of kin in Thailand which renders that statement as useless as a jelly on a BBQ.

I am not sure if this is relevant, but English law and Scots law differ in some details regarding a deceased. I found that out when my mum died. Although she lived and died in Scotland, her bank had been bought over by an English financial institution and tried to apply English law. It took 9 weeks to sort out.

When my friend died his body was held a morgue until the cremation at a local Wat could proceed, although he lived with a Thai lady his next of kin lived in the USA so the US Embassy in Bangkok were the go between, as I recall the US Embassy had a list of facilitators who deal with these events on behalf of family many miles away. The next of kin were not coming for the funeral but gave permission for it to go ahead whilst the facilitators on behalf of the next of kin collected his worldy goods for transport to the USA, one of the tripping points was his Thai computer, different voltage and different script, his former wife really wanted it can't imagine why.

The body can be kept in the morgue for as long as necessary there is nightly fee but its a small amount whilst the way ahead is agreed.

On 9/8/2022 at 8:35 PM, nong38 said:

When my friend died his body was held a morgue until the cremation at a local Wat could proceed, although he lived with a Thai lady his next of kin lived in the USA so the US Embassy in Bangkok were the go between, as I recall the US Embassy had a list of facilitators who deal with these events on behalf of family many miles away. The next of kin were not coming for the funeral but gave permission for it to go ahead whilst the facilitators on behalf of the next of kin collected his worldy goods for transport to the USA, one of the tripping points was his Thai computer, different voltage and different script, his former wife really wanted it can't imagine why.

The body can be kept in the morgue for as long as necessary there is nightly fee but its a small amount whilst the way ahead is agreed.

OP - Thanks for your comments.
My next of kin in the UK have already agreed to funeral here and will attend if possible.
The British Embassy were not helpful in any way and would not even discuss the mater over the phone saying that I have to fill in an online information form and "wait ! " for a reply.
My friend here has already garnered information about contacting police, local govt office etc. and will arrange all sides of the funeral /cremation.
Have found a lawyer to translate / witness my funeral wishes, going to see them this week and check that I have used all the correct phrases I.e. "Being of sound mind etc" on my funeral wishes.
Now we just have to wait and see ....

On 8/16/2022 at 9:40 PM, Maybole said:

I am not sure if this is relevant, but English law and Scots law differ in some details regarding a deceased. I found that out when my mum died. Although she lived and died in Scotland, her bank had been bought over by an English financial institution and tried to apply English law. It took 9 weeks to sort out.

OP - Thanks for your comments, sorry to read of the difficulties regarding your Mum's bank accounts

12 minutes ago, Speedo1968 said:

The British Embassy were not helpful in any way

Wow -thats very unusual ---said no one ever..............