4 hours ago, khunPer said:

1) In general the court executing a last will will be in the country of primary residence of the deceased person. So, if your primary residence is Thailand, it will be a Thjai cort handling your will and estate. As everywhere, it can take relative long time, depending of the will and if there also are foreign values and/or foreign heirs. Often a suggested solution is, if there are foreign values, to make two last wills, one for Thailand covering Thai assetts, and another for the foreign values, generally following the law there, which is primary a matter for fixed assetts like real estate.

2) To my knowledge, yes.

3) A bit difficult, and widely a matter of trust. A solution can be shared bank account(s). I use the latter for some of my funds in Thailand – also my securyty if something happens to be, then my girlfriend has access to funds to both pay for me and keep going herself – and I wrote in my Thai will that any funds in shared accounts, which can be both bank books and mutual funds, shall fully belong to the other named person. Furthermore I've stated in my last will that a certain amount of cash shall immediately be available for my girlfriend, which was also an important matter when we had our minor child living in the house, so there were funds for living expenses and school. With such a statement it should be legal to get fast access to some money; probaly also if you withdraw some cash from bank accounts before they a frozen. But the latter is again a question of trust, because my girlfriend needs to know my pin-code to withdraw some money from an ATM.

so could i set up a joint bank account, and state in my will that the entirety of that account goes to my wife on passing?

if so, and i was ill and able to, i could transfer any money i wanted to into that account, and she would have it instantly on my passing? she simply has to use her own ATM card for the account.......

is this correct, and a relatively safe way to ensure instant cash for the mrs you think?

5 hours ago, ricky52 said:

If so why did you put no for #2?

I didn't. I was responding to the post that did say no to #2.

I can only comment on #3...

My main bank account is in my name only. It's my understanding that it has to be that way, so I can use it to get my Long-term Visa yearly extensions. HOWEVER, I do give my wife the authority to withdraw money using the bank book and her signature. This way, if I can't go into the bank, like if I'm in a hospital or dead, she can take my bankbook in and withdraw all the funds and put them into her bank account,

This solution doesn't prevent her from with drawing the funds, but is good enough for me.

23 hours ago, ricky52 said:

Thanks any idea how long it would take a person(beneficiary) to have access to the bank account ? (probate)

Unfortunately not.

18 hours ago, UKJASE said:

so could i set up a joint bank account, and state in my will that the entirety of that account goes to my wife on passing?

if so, and i was ill and able to, i could transfer any money i wanted to into that account, and she would have it instantly on my passing? she simply has to use her own ATM card for the account.......

is this correct, and a relatively safe way to ensure instant cash for the mrs you think?

Legally, a named person in a shared bank account has the right to half – that's why, when using a shared account for extension of stay-bank deposit, it need to be double up; i.e., 800k baht for marriage and 1.6 million baht for retirement – however, I wrote in my will that any funds in shared accounts shall fully belong to the other named part, to avoid any dispute if more than half the funds are withdrawn. In theory, 99+ percent of a shared account could have been deposit by only one name, and thereby 99+ percents of the fund belonging to this named person, which again in theory might not be the one that has passed away.

The situation, if I'm ill and cannot access my funds – and also if I've passed away – is the reason why I placed my instant access "rainy day" money in a shared account with my trusted girlfriend. This seemed to be the easy way – perhaps the only way – to give another person instant access to my money in Thailand.

Furthermore – and that is again either a matter of trust, or how a pairs individual financial situation is – I have made sure that my girlfriend also have so funds of her own that can be in mutual funds or stocks for best outcome, which she easily can convert to cash money. We have chosen stocks, which also is her own old-age savings. This kind of funds are solely hers, and not a part of an estate, but also funds that can be used until an estate has been trough the court process, after which the old age savings can be replaced.

I general, I've tried to make things as less complicated as possible, but still with some level of security for myself; i.e., I have savings and funds that only I have access to, as long as I'm alive, should anything go unexpected seriously downhill.

From reading a few of the posts, can I claim ignorance of the law to avoid being locked up?

On 2/26/2026 at 11:52 AM, JerryM said:

Yes and there are expats who don't have the 800K either but that doesn't seem to stop them.

That's ok but I think that that will be stopped in the future that grey area will be gone .

On 2/25/2026 at 12:17 PM, ricky52 said:

Questions 1-do all wills have to go to probate and if so what court handles it? How long does it take?

2- Can the beneficiary be the executor?

3- Is there a way to add GF to bank account so she would receive the assets immediately upon my death but she doesn't have access to it while I'm alive?

Thanks !

Yes. Local court, not sure of timing. Lawyer cost probably min30k

Yes, they just can't be a witness.

No

On 2/27/2026 at 12:41 PM, hotandsticky said:

Yes. Local court, not sure of timing. Lawyer cost probably min30k

Yes, they just can't be a witness.

No

concise ,thanks.

I asked about this at my Bangkok Bank.

Even joint accounts need to go through probate before surviving spouse can access funds.

Tiresome and costly.

The bank staff just advised leaving my wife my ATM card so that she could withdraw the cash slowly after my death.

Not legal but that is what they said.

So instead , I got a decent safe , well hidden and secured and keep the bulk of my cash in it leaving only 100,000 in

the bank as a float.

Simple with instant access.