How Dangerous Is It To Own Property With A Company?

[johnnyk]

.... As far as I am aware, in theory you could have 6 foreign shareholders and 1 Thai shareholder providing that the Thai shareholder really owns 51% and the foreigners no more than 49%.

Thais have to be the majority of the shareholders, eg. 4 out of 7, 5 out of 9 etc. as well as holding 51% or more of the shares.

Different share classes and voting rights are legal allowing a company to be effectively controlled by a minority owner, samesame as in western countries.

[Lazy Sod]

Thais have to be the majority of the shareholders, eg. 4 out of 7, 5 out of 9 etc. as well as holding 51% or more of the shares.

Thanks for the correction Johnny.

[thaigene2]

Will a Farang ever own Thai land, not in my life time for the majority of us without huge sums of money in the bank.

I can't see them ever allowing us to own land. The difficulty for a parent of a Thai child to reside here permanently shows their insecurity about giving foreigners. IMO this is a more important issue than land ownership.

One of the best points made so far..

[PadThaiGuy]

I believe that owning a property thru a bogus Company is going to come back and haunt the buyers someday.

This is Thailand.

When the Police/Mafia discover they can take these places....look out!

Who you gonna call? A Thai Lawyer, a Cop?

[dsfbrit]

I believe that owning a property thru a bogus Company is going to come back and haunt the buyers someday.

This is Thailand.

When the Police/Mafia discover they can take these places....look out!

Who you gonna call? A Thai Lawyer, a Cop?

Yes - This is the Thailand forum - did you mean to post this on the Zimbabwe forum?

Come on - its a bit over the top isn't it

[johnnyk]

What is a 'bogus' company?

[JimmyGreaves]

I believe that owning a property thru a bogus Company is going to come back and haunt the buyers someday.

This is Thailand.

When the Police/Mafia discover they can take these places....look out!

Who you gonna call? A Thai Lawyer, a Cop?

You entitled to your believes, but I beg to differ. I see Thailand moving forward and encouraging foreign investment.

btw what is a bogus company?

[wolfmanjack]

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If I were in your position, I would probably not change the ownership structure you have in place unless you felt it was becoming cumbersome to provide the company documentation and yearly taxes. I agree that the usufruct may limited use in the case of a divorce, but does provide protection from the family in-law.

As for me, call me crazy or blissfully ignorant, all of the land my wife owns in Thailand is in her name alone without any usufruct or lease even for the land I gave her money to buy. We have three children who will inherit all the land she owns if anything happens to her. If we get divorced, then she can have the land in Thailand. I will keep the house in the US since it is in my name alone.

If she has a mother or father that is still alive then they will inherit along with your children. just because the house in the USA is in your name does not means she can get part of it in the event of a divorce. In thailand it depends on if you owned the house before you married or can trace all of the funds to before you married. In the USA it depends on what the laws in that state are.

[donx]

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If I were in your position, I would probably not change the ownership structure you have in place unless you felt it was becoming cumbersome to provide the company documentation and yearly taxes. I agree that the usufruct may limited use in the case of a divorce, but does provide protection from the family in-law.

As for me, call me crazy or blissfully ignorant, all of the land my wife owns in Thailand is in her name alone without any usufruct or lease even for the land I gave her money to buy. We have three children who will inherit all the land she owns if anything happens to her. If we get divorced, then she can have the land in Thailand. I will keep the house in the US since it is in my name alone.

If she has a mother or father that is still alive then they will inherit along with your children. just because the house in the USA is in your name does not means she can get part of it in the event of a divorce. In thailand it depends on if you owned the house before you married or can trace all of the funds to before you married. In the USA it depends on what the laws in that state are.

From my understanding of these issues, you are basically correct with everything you say. However, in Thailand my wife can have a will that specifically dictates who inherits what, so she could keep her mother and father (even though they are still alive) from receiving anything when she dies. The key is to have a will prepared which is something we still need to do. And as far as ownership of my house goes, it is my understanding that in my state (Maryland), since the property was purchased prior to our marriage that it is not considered a marital asset. This also was the case with my first marriage which ended in the same state. And another point which neither of us mentioned is that my wife is entitled to a portion of my retirement account. The amount is dependent upon various factors which I won't go into now.

[ThaiLawOnline]

Very nice thread.

For information, the 3 shareholders will start on First of July. It's still 7.

[Lazy Sod]

Very nice thread.

For information, the 3 shareholders will start on First of July. It's still 7.

Isaanlawyers - any thoughts on the Company structure of 51% Thai wife / 47% foreign husband, compared to usufruct?

[212]

Does anyone actually know where the new 3 shareholder rule is coming from? Lots of talk but I can't seem to find any reference to actuall facts.

Anyone?