Death In Thailand

[amazedat]

Any and all information would be appreciated about procedures following a foreigner's death in Thailand.

Arrangements, Who sorts out undertaker, funeral, getting coffin, Costs, How does next of kin get probate of Thai wills etc.

[backflip]

Planning ahead? First place I'd try is your home embassy for input.

[amazedat]

Planning ahead? First place I'd try is your home embassy for input.

Thanks for quick reply, forgive my stupidity, but who cracks open my safe, finds my passport, notifies the next of kin, embassy, etc. I have looked at embassy files, useful, but I would like to hear of members actual experiences.

[amazedat]

And before some wag says it, I don't mean from the other side, I mean lots of people have lost friends here and it is their experiences I am hoping to hear.

Edited July 27, 2007 by amazedat

[jimmym40]

Have no experiences yet to date, but here's a few things you can do that might help:

Carry in your wallet info of a contact in case of emergency: Name, phone, etc.

Put your safe combo into a sealed envelope, initialed, then taped over, give it to a person you totally trust, and give him instructions what to do in case of emergency.

You can give this kind of info to more than one person if you wish.

You think like me, always planning ahead. I always carry a copy of my passport, TM7 form, visa extension of stays, and phone contacts in my wallat. This info could mean life or death if something serious happens.

[slapout]

The few deaths here in Thailand that I have been conected with, in some way, the police are notified and they handle notification of the Embassy. If married to a Thai, your spouce would notify embassy and they will give instruction for what forms to fill out and where to send them. If no spouse, the passport info is used to contact embassy, who in turn notifies your next of kin in home country. This can be a long drawn out affair if info is not readily avilabe to them. The next of kin determines disposal of the remains, you are kept in a icebox whilr this is ongoing. The procedure followed is good reason to registor with your Embassey and carry ID and at least copy of Passport at all times. I saw one man lie in cold storage for 4 weeks before family gave permission to burn him here, then the Consulate in Chiang took care of it. Hope this helps in some small way. If you own property etc worth a lot of money I would contact a Lawyer, if not and you rent an appartment and have a partner leave instructions for them to get what few personal belongings there are.

[TBWG]

Any and all information would be appreciated about procedures following a foreigner's death in Thailand.

Arrangements, Who sorts out undertaker, funeral, getting coffin, Costs, How does next of kin get probate of Thai wills etc.

hi amazedat

If you have a pension then you should complete a statement of wishes so that any widows pension is paid with the minimum of fuss.

Supplying your partner with contact details of pension scheme is also a sensible thing to do.

When you complete statement of wishes it is also prudent to advise the pension scheme of the bank account details of the beneficiary.

Then do everything possible to avoid bringing about an early payment date

TBWG

[Tammi]

My friend died. He was old and had cancer and other problems so had been in hospital. At home he was attended by a farang doctor. He died at home. The farang doctor was phoned and he said correct procedure was to phone police since the death occurred at home. Police came and were very nice. Local newspapers also came with photographers but we told them to B---er Off. Police took photo(s), asked for passport and took details, wrapped body in new clean white cloth and put in pickup and transported to Bangkok to the Police Forensic Dept at the Police Hospital for autopsy.

A farang friend notified the British Embassy and overseas relatives. As far as I remember the Embassy said to go to local Town Hall for Death Certificate. The Embassy issued a Letter of Release which is in Thai and is permission to move the body. Cost of this letter was Baht 1,763. The death certificate needed to be translated from Thai to English and Embassy cost for this was Baht 4,475. In order to do translation Embassy needed original death certificate, passport, and postal order made payable to embassy along with a cover letter and address to which translation was to be be sent. Extra certified copies were avalibale at baht 2,263 each. Embassy asked that covering letter and documents be sent to them by EMS but because we didn't trust EMS we hand delivered to Embassy.

Friends went to Embassy to get Letter of Release and body was transported to local Bangkok Hospital as there was no room at the Wat. The Funeral Director said he would transport for baht 15,000. Cost of overnight stay at local Bangkok Hospital was baht 1,000 and hospital transport to Wat the following day was baht 500. Hospital needed to see Death Certificate and any other relevant documents.

As far as I know funeral director was not involved because the deceased's Thai partner organised everything (coffin, flowers, etc.) with the Wat. But Embassy recommended Teckhong Funeral Directors, Khun Harin, tel 02 221 1680. I can't remember what K. Harin said it would cost if they looked after everything.

To receive Letter of Release from Embassy the Embassy will need to see your ID.

I suppose all the necessary info re death of foreigner is available on your Embassy's internet site.

________________________

However, having written the above, I am now told that if a farang dies at home and has a history at an hospital, all that is needed is that someone phone for the hospital ambulance and have body taken to the hospital where Customer Relations will help and advise. If you have been a chronically ill patient at a hospital but die at home there is no need to involve the police and have autopsy.

[kat]

I'm glad someone started this thread, because I have a distinct impression of this and it is not good. Perhaps others can share their experiences to add to my perspective.

Right before I left Thailand last year, my friend's father died. They were foreigners, and not connected to a Thai spouse. He had a Thai funeral, and his body was cremated. I felt that the Temple ceremony seemed incredibly disrespectful. The local guys working the crematorium behaved as if they were in an auto repair shop. They walked around smoking cigarettes, dressed in grungy clothes, totally oblivious to the fact that people right in front of them were crying their eyes out.

As special as my poor young friend tried to make it for her father, actions that were very jarring under the circumstances seemed to keep reminding us that we were nothing to them but worthless farangs. I'm sorry if that seems harsh, but the whole experience seemed to point in that direction.

The casket was not done in the colors that my friend had asked, and when they took down the casket from the perch, set it down and started to hammer and destroy it to break it apart. Then they put it in the oven, and just let the door slam down as my friend was looking at her father's casket for the last time, without any thought or characteristic politeness. There were also issues with money at this temple, and other things that I can't mention here that raised my eyebrows.

I did not come away with a favorable impression at all. But perhaps this is just a cultural difference about death. I don't have too many other Thai funerals of Thais with which to compare. It seemed pretty brutal to me, and I have a hard time believing they would have been as insensitive to a Thai.

One other thing, along the lines of things I don't want to go into in-depth: there was some talk that my friend would have to pay a tax to get her father's assets out, and some of the things I was hearing sounded very exploitative.

Edited July 29, 2007 by kat

[Irene]

Normally they are quite respectful to funerals of the Thais. It is rather sad to know of this misdeed.

There should be not much tax on the deceased. Only income tax on his income to the date of his death is subject to tax. There is no inheritance tax in Thailand. However, a court appointment of an administrator of the deceased assets has to be sought. This could take quite a few months even for a simple case. The procedures are simple for a lawyer if there is no mistrust among the beneficiaries. Normally, the legal fee is not much. But there may be some unscrupulous lawyers who may take advantage of the innocence of the relatives. If at a loss in locating a right lawyer, check with the Law Society, first for their help of the case or alternatively to understand the type of charges and recommendations of a lawyer.

[Rempler]

Dear gentlemen,

just last month, I went through some steps of preparation on this matter.

- All my pin-codes are in hands of family members in Europe, who might be called by mobile immediately, ready to give all data to my wife, who is honestly loved by all my relatives in Europe.

- In regards of the funeral I fully trust my wife to perform it in her way, inviting my sister from Europe to join.

Sufficient money for this procedure is allocated on her bank account in Thailand since long.

- A notice with phone-numbers (+ e-mail-adress) of my close relatives (Thai relatives in Thai language, Falang relatives in Falang language)

are a] in my wallet and b] fixed with transparent tape on the inside of my shoe (I have to renew that one each second month, or after slipping in the shoes without th required care)

I am only about 55 and I do feel healthy, but I want to provide security for my Thai wife (and our very first child, which is expected in December 07) in case, I have to "leave this planet" .... Even though I am not well off, I want to protect my wife from administrative tasks, which are easy to do for a German country fellow, but hard to do for someone with a different mother tongue.

Therefore now - 7 months before the three of us will move permanently from Europe to Thailand - I did the following:

- Installed a bank account on my wife's name here in Europe, as most pension funds are not ready to transfer the widow's (or child's) pension to a foreign account. Besides, I went with my wife to the corresponding branch manager, explained the background and made sure, that he (or his successor) will be helpful (and keep my will protocoled in my personal branch-history-folder).

- I have sent a letter (by certified mail) to both my pension funds (governmental and corporate) with each

- 1 copy of our marriage documents

- 1 copy of our passports

- 1 copy of the above mentioned bank account data

- an original (and self-tailored) "empowerment beyond my death" for my sister and my best friend (with the original signatures of all 4 of us) to handle all paperwork on behalf of my wife and her pension fund claims, as my wife's German language skills would not allow her to do so.

- I explicitly asked to keep these documents PERMANENTLY ARCHIVED.

- And I added my phone number, asking them to contact me immediately via phone or mail, just in case they feel any doubts about this procedure - giving them a period of 3 months. I stated, that, if they would not respond during this period, I would consider this roll-out being approved by them.

- The only thing, my wife will have to supply is an INTERNATIONAL DEATH CERTIFICATE. For this topic she might need help from my embassy.

So I prepared a letter for my embassy in LOS, which I will personally hand over, once I register there, after we have arrived in BKK - VERY KINDLY asking them to fully support my wife in legal and administrative matters, in case something shall happen to me. I encluded a copy of the 2 letters to the pension funds.

- Besides I have left a signed but UNDATED letter to my bank's branch, asking them to transfer all my savings to my wife's account - and asked them to execute this BEFORE they OFFICIALLY learn about my death.

Though it's a bit vague, exactly this had been done, when my father died some years ago: He died at. 3 a.m., they transferred his savings to the account of his second wife at 10 a.m. - nonofficially aware that he has died - and at 1 p.m. they were informed officially about his death. This is only to save my wife from paying any capital transfer tax.

It was a bit of an effort, but my wife deserves this "completed staff work".

By the way, she has no idea about the volume of my pension funds or my savings ! And she told me that she does not even want to know about that. We live a very SIMPLE life without any luxury and she has always trusted me and never had asked for anything special besides food, dress, some Thai books, a few cinema visits here and there and a fair contribution to her parents survival on certain occasions. The corresponding "contribution rule" is, that we always pay 175 percent of the average of the donations of her 3 sisters (,who all are happily married), which seems to be adequate, given the contrast in our social circumstances.

Hope this is not too far off-topic and might be of any help for anybody.

J.R.R.

P.s.: Apologies for my bad English grammar, - I am still on the early sector of the learning curve :-(

Edited July 30, 2007 by Rempler

[joeuk1]

I have put everything in place wills - and spoken to my main family members , Uk children - Thai wife . It should be quite straight forward everything that i have in Thailand property etc belongs to my Thai wife and Thai kids , all that i have in the Uk Property etc belongs to my English kids . As for what to do with me when my day comes i hope that will be in Thailand funeral to be organised by my Thai wife and my ashes scattered under a big tree on our land in Thailand .

Should be quite straight forward i must make sure a leave an envelope with money in for a big party

JB

[Irene]

Rempler,

Your wife is very lucky to have you as a husband. You are so thorough and concerned with your wife even when you are not in this planet.

Similarly, you are also lucky to have such a wife who has a simple want.

Your English is Ok, no apology is required.