Sorry this maybe covered elsewhere but could not find it anywhere.
What happens when an Englishman dies leaving a Thai wife and can she use the pin number to draw out cash for family

Technically/Legally NO she cannot,

5 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Technically/Legally NO she cannot,

Thanks and I was wondering how she would go about it, but got permission from me to use the pin and gradually drain the account as I only want it to go to her>

7 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Technically/Legally NO she cannot,

Would you please explain and anyone can claim in family and cousins, surely not

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

In a nutshell, assuming it's not a joint account, nobody can take money from it until the Will/Probate has been sorted.

I've approached this problem by putting 1Million THB into an FD account in my partner's name so, if/when I die, she can use this to tide her over until my Thai & UK Wills/Probates are sorted.

Edit: 1 Interesting rub on the UK side is if I leave her my UK house she has to pay a shed load of tax on it (I can't remember if it's IHT or CGT) even before it's sold so I've had to write my will such that she gets the house clear & any expenses/taxes involved in the sale come from an other part of my estate (i.e. My General Investment account).

Edited April 30Apr 30 by SamSpade

39 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

In a nutshell, assuming it's not a joint account, nobody can take money from it until the Will/Probate has been sorted.

I've approached this problem by putting 1Million THB into an FD account in my partner's name so, if/when I die, she can use this to tide her over until my UK Will/Probate is sorted.

As we all know it has to be in our own name, but surely with prior permission the Thai wife can use the debit card and how are they to know by gossip etc

1 minute ago, jwest10 said:

As we all know it has to be in our own name, but surely with prior permission the Thai wife can use the debit card and how are they to know by gossip etc

Can surely use it for emergencies and how are they to know?

2 hours ago, jwest10 said:

Can surely use it for emergencies and how are they to know?

What the law actually expects

Under Thai law, a death must be officially registered with the local district office (amphur).
That’s required for the death certificate — and without it, nothing else can move forward.

• This is the real legal obligation

• It’s usually done by family, hospital, or local officials

Where the problem starts

Once the death exists officially, the situation changes:

• The person no longer has legal capacity

• Their assets become part of the estate

• No one (including a spouse) has automatic access

In reality:

• There the legal way

• The usual way

• What often happens

As with most things in Thailand depends who you see where you are, and what your willing to chance.

4 hours ago, jwest10 said:

As we all know it has to be in our own name, but surely with prior permission the Thai wife can use the debit card and how are they to know by gossip etc

I'm assuming by "We all know it has to be in our own name" you're referring to the money to support your extension but this can actually be in an account in Joint Names, you just need to maintain twice the amount of money.

The problem is that until the Estate is settled, your wife has no automatic right to the money & it's possible (E.g. if you Children elsewhere) that her rights to it could be challenged so technically it's theft even if you've left it to her in a Will and if you don't have a Will then your wife is only entitled to the same share that any of your children would be entitled to.

But practically the Bank wouldn't know you've died unless somebody informs them & if the plan was your wife would spend down all the money I doubt they would ever get to know.

Edit: Though not specidically about Wives taking money out of their deceased husband accounts, you might find this thread of interest https://aseannow.com/topic/1318352-can-probate-be-carried-out-without-the-need-of-a-lawyer/

Edited April 30Apr 30 by SamSpade

7 hours ago, jwest10 said:

Can surely use it for emergencies and how are they to know?

But if you are dead, then she will be breaking the law. Unless she does not declare your death, that doesn’t sound a good idea. If she then uses the card it will be registered by the bank, date , time etc.

Much better idea would be to leave her a certain amount of money to get by for a few months until your will is legally sorted out.

11 hours ago, jwest10 said:

Sorry this maybe covered elsewhere but could not find it anywhere.
What happens when an Englishman dies leaving a Thai wife and can she use the pin number to draw out cash for family

Until the bank knows about the death. The main issue is others wanting money. If there is 1 executor and 1 beneficiary and no others trying to get money no problem. An executor can draw funeral expenses. The main issue is grubs trying to get some. The world is full of grubs but you mainly find out after deaths. A joint account may solve this. After death it becomes the sole owner of the survivor.

20 hours ago, CharlieH said:

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

not 100% correct. The ATM card becomes invalid once the bank is notified of his death, NOT the second he dies. e.g. dies on a Friday night, bank can't be notified until the Monday morning at the earliest, and then only after death certificates have been issued by both a doctor and the district office. So theoretically it might be possible to use the ATM to withdraw the daily maximums on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning before the death certificates have been issued and the bank notified..

I personally know someone who slowly emptied his deceased wife's Thai bank account via ATM withdrawals over several weeks. The only person (other than me) who knew was his son who assisted with the withdrawals. He never informed the bank of her passing and the account was ulimately closed due to lack of funds therein. Having said that, he knew it was illegal but wanted to avoid faffing around with lawyers.

I went to my bank to ask how my wife could access my money should I die. Would opening a joint account help ?

No it would not. Everything must go through probate. Is there a solution I asked ? Yes...give her your ATM card pin number and she can withdraw it gradually. But that is illegal I pointed out. Everyone laughed , even other customers evesdropping.. Illegal yes but everyone does it and nobody cares.

That was from the bank employees.

My solution, buy a safe , bolt it down and leave the money in it with just a small float in the bank.

If on the other hand she dies first , everything to son in law ( really nice guy ) and I keep all the gold and walk away.

Edited May 1May 1 by trucking

21 hours ago, jwest10 said:

As we all know it has to be in our own name, but surely with prior permission the Thai wife can use the debit card and how are they to know by gossip etc

Permission from whom? The deceased account holder cannot give permission and on his death the bank should freeze the account until probate is sorted. By law, his death has to reported to the police who report it to his embassy and, presumably, some inquiries will be made regarding his assets here.

21 hours ago, jwest10 said:

Can surely use it for emergencies and how are they to know?

Legally, no. Funds in the account cannot be used at all until probate is granted. The chances are, of course, that they will not know that your wife is stealing from your estate but that doesn't make theft and fraud legal. What if somebody else turned up after your death and claimed an entitlement to part of your estate after she stolen it all?

22 hours ago, CharlieH said:

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

22 hours ago, CharlieH said:

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

How would the bank know you have died

22 hours ago, CharlieH said:

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

How would the bank know you have died

Just now, TigerandDog said:

it might be possible to use the ATM to withdraw the daily maximums on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning before the death certificates have been issued and the bank notified

Possible, but illegal. Withdrawing funds from a deceased person's account by a third party is fraud.

Just now, ancharee said:

hours ago, CharlieH said:

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

How would the bank know you have died

there's a very high likelihood of the police visiting the deceased foreigner's home on being advised of the death to get at least a passport. They'd also be looking at things like his wallet and the existence of a bank account may become apparent. That information may be passed on to the embassy so, you can see, but the secret can easily get out.

Just now, Liverpool Lou said:

there's a very high likelihood of the police visiting the deceased foreigner's home on being advised of the death to get at least a passport. They'd also be looking at things like his wallet and the existence of a bank account may become apparent. That information may be passed on to the embassy so, you can see, but the secret can easily get out.

I understand that police will visit my wife at home to collect my passport, I have already told my wife if they ask for my bankbook to tell them looked but can't find it,last thing I would want is the police having my bankbook

Joint Bank Account … can the survivor not access that money before probate?

Just now, JAS21 said:

Joint Bank Account … can the survivor not access that money before probate?

No, unfortunately not.

On 4/30/2026 at 3:51 PM, CharlieH said:

The ATM card stops being valid the second he dies.

Taking money after that isn’t ‘using his account’ — it’s taking from an estate without authority, and that can get you into legal trouble, even as his wife.

My plan is to use mirror accounts /mine/hers and to give power of attorney and instruct her to make transfers before I die.

Also a will is somewhat of a safeguard, it accelerates things...

Edited May 2May 2 by Peter Crow

14 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

there's a very high likelihood of the police visiting the deceased foreigner's home on being advised of the death to get at least a passport. They'd also be looking at things like his wallet and the existence of a bank account may become apparent. That information may be passed on to the embassy so, you can see, but the secret can easily get out.

the police would only visit the deceased foreigner's home if the death was due to suspicious circumstances or the foreigner was living on his own. We had this situation in our village a couple of months ago. No suspicious circumstances so no home visit by the police. The process the wife had to follow was as follows: a doctor had to issue a death certificate, the wife then attended the district office with the village pooh yai ban, and notified the district office of the death and provided a copy of the death certificate issued by the doctor. The district office then also issues a death certificate plus 2 copies, one for the bank and one for the local immigration office. At the time of notifying the bank she also provided a copy of her husband's Thai will. If there's no local immigration office then the police are notified. If the death is not due to suspicious circumstances the ONLY involvement of the police (immigration or local) is to notify the provincial Immigration office who then pass the information on to the foreigner's home embassy or consulate. If there is a Thai will, then probate is fairly quick ( in this instance 3 weeks), if there's no Thai will then probate must wait until advice is received from the home country as to any relatives that might also be entitled to a share of the estate. So always make sure you have a Thai will for your Thai assets and a separate will for any assets in your home country.

I did ask my Thai Bank this question, they said it takes a few days for the account to be frozen once the account holder has died, so their suggestion was to go to the ATM to withdraw the amount allowed on your account, to speed things up they also said seeing as how u can withdraw a limited amount per day, its best if u go close to midnight to withdraw, then past midnight u can withdraw another limited amount....

Just now, westhighland said:

I did ask my Thai Bank this question, they said it takes a few days for the account to be frozen once the account holder has died, so their suggestion was to go to the ATM to withdraw the amount allowed on your account, to speed things up they also said seeing as how u can withdraw a limited amount per day, its best if u go close to midnight to withdraw, then past midnight u can withdraw another limited amount....

Always good to see the bank staff recommending illegal activities to their foreign customers' survivors.

On per-day restricted-amount account a withdrawal before midnight followed by another after midnight doesn't give an extra withdrawal.

22 hours ago, trucking said:

No, unfortunately not.

Wrong.. a Joint account is considered "Sin Somros" (Common Property) so the survivor is entitled to whatever is in the account on the other parties death.

10 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Always good to see the bank staff recommending illegal activities to their foreign customers' survivors.

On per-day restricted-amount account a withdrawal before midnight followed by another after midnight doesn't give an extra withdrawal.

Yes it does give an extra withdrawl because i have done it, and as for staff recommending illegal activities, that staff member was my wife's relative..