Creating a Savings Portfolio for Thai Wife

[RocketDog]

On 11/27/2024 at 11:28 PM, gejohesch said:

Thanks, obviously. I just forgot to say that I'm not legally married - some issues with my past life "back home" prevent me from marrying in Thailand. Any will I could write to the benefit of my "de facto wife" in Thailand would not be legally valid.

I thought a Will is to choose who is a beneficiary...period. Could be the lady selling noodles down the street or your sister at home.

What am I missing?

 

I am legally divorced in USA decades ago. Three years ago I went to a Thai lawyer and made a Will naming my Thai GF as the only beneficiary of all I have here.

 

My understanding is that he manages the probate process and she gets the proceeds.

 

Why wouldn't that work for you? Are you saying Wills only work for married people in Thailand?

 

 

[Hummin]

if you still have wife in Usa, then your thai wife might have some problems in future. Heard about simular incidents before, where an old wife just came out from nowhere, and claimed everything

 

 

[Red Phoenix]

38 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

I thought a Will is to choose who is a beneficiary...period. Could be the lady selling noodles down the street or your sister at home.

What am I missing?

 

I am legally divorced in USA decades ago. Three years ago I went to a Thai lawyer and made a Will naming my Thai GF as the only beneficiary of all I have here.

 

My understanding is that he manages the probate process and she gets the proceeds.

 

Why wouldn't that work for you? Are you saying Wills only work for married people in Thailand?

 

For sake of record > I am not familiar with the inheritance laws/regulations in Thailand, but am well acquainted with how this works in Europe. 

And - in case the rules/regulations would be largely similar- there are two considerations that need to be made.

#1 - When you have children, they are entitled to their legal part of your inheritance.  And in most European countries your children cannot be disinherited.

So when you write in your will 'that everything you own should go to your girlfriend', that will be executed but only for that part of your inheritance after the legal parts that your family members will automatically be entitled to, has been executed.

#2 - There is also the matter of inheritance taxation, and that tax is progressive the farther you are away from blood relatives, practically that means that your children will pay the lowest tax tarif on their part of the inheritance, but your girlfriend (with which you are not married, and she has no family blood-ties with you) will be taxed highest on the part of the inheritance she will receive.

#3 - To escape that inheritance taxation and possible claims by relatives on parts of your heritage, you can provide already all or parts of the future inheritance to your girlfriend while you are still alive.  However, such gifts would have to be received by her, at least 1 year before your demise, otherwise she will have to give them back when the inheritance is to be executed.  And as mentioned higher then first your children will get their legal part of the full inheritance (including the gifts you made less than 1 year to your girlfriend), and the whole of the inheritance will be taxed (so even if your girlfriend gets her gifts back, they will first be inheritance taxed). 

 

Once again, I am not familiar with Thai inheritance laws/regulations, so it is well possible that none of this will be applicable to you.  But as you are a US citizen, it will be the US inheritance laws/regulations that will be applicable for you (and I presume that your Thai lawyer was well aware of this and informed you about possible caveats/misunderstandings re making your will and wanting your girlfriend to get the full inheritance).

Edited 1 hour ago by Red Phoenix

[Red Phoenix]

On 11/27/2024 at 2:08 AM, gejohesch said:

I have been living for nearly 20 years with a charming Thai woman. As I'm getting older (we all do!), I'm gradually getting concerned about the possibility that one day I will be gone, leaving her alone. She is 20 years younger than me, so that is quite a likely situation to happen some time in the future. I would like to find a way to put money away for her to secure her standards of living from that point in time onwards. Something like an in an investment or savings portfolio, say sthg in the order of 1-2 million THB, that she would know of but could only touch once I have disappeared.

 

Why am I asking? Because, as sweet and lovely she is, I still cannot trust her entirely. I would not want to give her the opportunity to cash out while I'm still alive, me not knowing, and who knows what she would do with the money, what sort of silly "project" she would use the money for, "project" that would miserably fail? Most people on this forum know the Thais sufficiently to understand what I'm talking about.

 

I'm aware that I could shop around the banks in Thailand and ask. However, if anyone in this forum could give me some appropriate advise, that would save me time and I would much appreciate it.

 

By "appropriate advise", I mean that please, abstain from unnecessary comments on my personal relationship with my wife. That's not what I need!

 

Hi @gejohesch > You did not mention your nationality in your OP, but your nationality will have large consequences for any inheritance related actions you take. 

I am in a comparable situation like yourself in the sense that I am not married with my lovely Thai girlfriend that I am now more than 10 years already living with, and obviously when not being legally married with her she is not entitled to anything from my inheritance when I demise.   Of course I could make a will and simply state what I want her to receive after my demise.

But I have deliberately chosen not to make a will, and as a result my whole inheritance will go in equal parts to my 3 children (I am divorced, so my ex-wife will receive nothing).  And the reason I did not make a will is that in Belgium - and in most European countries - the recipients of your inheritance will be taxed on the part they receive.  And that inheritance tax becomes progressively heavier the further the recipient is away in blood-family ties.  So that means in my case that my 3 children will pay the lowest inheritance tax on their part (something like 5 to 10%), but my Thai girlfriend when I put her in my will will have to pay 30% or more on what I donate to her.  

As I fully trust my 3 children, I explained the situation to them and told them that I wanted each of them to give 25% of the part they receive from my inheritance (after taxation) to my Thai girlfriend.  So when that is done, my inheritance will actually come in the hands of 4 persons (my 3 children and my Thai girlfriend), but my Thai girlfriend will not be confronted with the high taxation but instead 'piggyback' on the low taxation that my children have to pay on my inheritance.

>> So if the same applies to you, and you can trust the legal inheritants of your inheritants to act according to your wishes, you could consider a similar approach.

[himmel]

5 hours ago, KhunLA said:

It's easy, but most women I know, haven't got the self discipline to invest & save.  Current wife is the only one, that has listened to me and understand how to do both. 

 

Not sure if entirely my influence, as all her siblings are quite successful, financially and well off, most retiring early.  Not the easiest thing to do in TH.  Along with most, self employed, and seem to be the common denominator. 

 

For most people, I'd suggest a trust fund, with withdrawal limits.  Easy enough to set up.

Hi KhunLA, would care to elaborate, ie, trust fund.  Easy enough to set up, How, Where. Thanks. 

[KhunLA]

7 minutes ago, himmel said:

Hi KhunLA, would care to elaborate, ie, trust fund.  Easy enough to set up, How, Where. Thanks. 

Probably easier to do in your home country.   Very easy if a Yank.  TH just started a few years back, but I didn't get much further than knowing it was possible now.

 

Since having trusted partner, and kid now adult age, no need to set one up for them.  They both have access to each others assets via wills, and responsible enough to not need a trust.

 

Give this a read ...

 

https://www.bakermckenzie.com/-/media/files/insight/publications/2018/08/al_thailand_privatetrustactapproved_aug18.pdf?la=en#:~:text=A trust can be set,onshore assets including real estate.

[RocketDog]

1 hour ago, Red Phoenix said:

 

For sake of record > I am not familiar with the inheritance laws/regulations in Thailand, but am well acquainted with how this works in Europe. 

And - in case the rules/regulations would be largely similar- there are two considerations that need to be made.

#1 - When you have children, they are entitled to their legal part of your inheritance.  And in most European countries your children cannot be disinherited.

So when you write in your will 'that everything you own should go to your girlfriend', that will be executed but only for that part of your inheritance after the legal parts that your family members will automatically be entitled to, has been executed.

#2 - There is also the matter of inheritance taxation, and that tax is progressive the farther you are away from blood relatives, practically that means that your children will pay the lowest tax tarif on their part of the inheritance, but your girlfriend (with which you are not married, and she has no family blood-ties with you) will be taxed highest on the part of the inheritance she will receive.

#3 - To escape that inheritance taxation and possible claims by relatives on parts of your heritage, you can provide already all or parts of the future inheritance to your girlfriend while you are still alive.  However, such gifts would have to be received by her, at least 1 year before your demise, otherwise she will have to give them back when the inheritance is to be executed.  And as mentioned higher then first your children will get their legal part of the full inheritance (including the gifts you made less than 1 year to your girlfriend), and the whole of the inheritance will be taxed (so even if your girlfriend gets her gifts back, they will first be inheritance taxed). 

 

Once again, I am not familiar with Thai inheritance laws/regulations, so it is well possible that none of this will be applicable to you.  But as you are a US citizen, it will be the US inheritance laws/regulations that will be applicable for you (and I presume that your Thai lawyer was well aware of this and informed you about possible caveats/misunderstandings re making your will and wanting your girlfriend to get the full inheritance).

Pete,

You have some good points but I have a will in America and I have a Will in Thailand. The Will in Thailand never mentions anything in America but my American Will mentions payments to my girlfriend here.

 

In America if there is no last Will and testament then the Probate Court does assign proceeds to the next of kin.

If there is a awill in effect however the proceeds go to whoever it is assigned to and next of kin get nothing at all if not named beneficiaries. I have no blood children or adopted children so neither of these are mentioned in my Wills, neither of them.

To upgrade inheritance point, both cars are already in her name but giving all I own here before I pass to any person is beyond my limits of trust. She will just have to do with what she gets after taxes.

 

BTW, my Thai Will specifically asserts that all proceeds go to GF and any family claims are specifically excluded. I am well aware of this hazard and have blocked it.

A trust fund is a good solution also but as you may know these do not exist in Thailand.

 

[Thanks. Hope all is well with you. House in America sold on Nov 28. Yay!]

 

Edited 4 minutes ago by RocketDog

[RocketDog]

17 minutes ago, himmel said:

Hi KhunLA, would care to elaborate, ie, trust fund.  Easy enough to set up, How, Where. Thanks. 

I contacted a Thai lawyer as well as web research.

Both claim USA style Trust Funds are not possible for Thailand.

I suppose you could set one up in your home country for assets there going to Thailand beneficiary but it could get messy.

[newnative]

1 hour ago, RocketDog said:

I thought a Will is to choose who is a beneficiary...period. Could be the lady selling noodles down the street or your sister at home.

What am I missing?

 

I am legally divorced in USA decades ago. Three years ago I went to a Thai lawyer and made a Will naming my Thai GF as the only beneficiary of all I have here.

 

My understanding is that he manages the probate process and she gets the proceeds.

 

Why wouldn't that work for you? Are you saying Wills only work for married people in Thailand?

 

 

You  are correct.  A beneficiary can be anyone you choose--including the noodle lady.