Security Of Your Investment - Social Vs Legal

[g00dgirl]

On one side there are legal steps that foreigners in Thailand take to ensure they can have rights to the land, house or business they invested money in.

On the other side I think that there are social aspects that are often not being considered carefully enough by the foreigner, causing the foreigner to "walk away" from an investment even if they have some legal rights to it.

Of course some foreigners decide from the start that they are only investing what they are prepared to lose or that they wish to have their Thai partner control everything and benefit fully from their investment, they know they will never want to claim anything, but perhaps not every foreigner plans this and perhaps some change their minds later which is why so many worry about the legal protection.

In this thread I would like to discuss and collect some tips about the social aspect to keeping and enjoying an investment in Thailand.

2 Examples:

1) An maybe typical example that has been given before: Foreigner invests in land, house together with Thai partner, he has secured some rights to his investment by means of lease, usufruct or company formation. The relationship to the Thai partner ends and despite their legal rights, the foreigner "walks away" from the investment, land, house - possibly because the land, house are located in the Thai partners village sourrounded by relatives and friends of their Thai partner where they would not like to live anymore after their relationship ended.

2) Another example would be the foreigner leaving a business to their Thai partner after a dispute, even though he might have legal rights to make own decisions, perhaps because all business contacts are those of the Thai partner, or various familiy members of the Thai partner started to work in the business and so the foreigner feels he would be on bad terms with too many people to make any claims to the business.

What practical considerations should foreigners keep in mind when making an investment in Thailand (that inevitably involves a Thai partner of some kind in most cases) in regards to this social aspect?

- Don't invest in land/house/business in a location where your Thai partner has got more friends or family than you do yourself.

- Invest in land/house in a location where you would be happy to live without your partner, with a new partner, maybe close to your own friends or family.

- Don't let all staff of the business be friends or family of your Thai partner.

- Recruit staff yourself, even better if it is your friends or family you involve.

- Don't let all the business contacts (suppliers, customers, other) be established by your Thai partner.

- Think in advance about the business you are starting and if you are capable to establish your own business contacts.

- Bring some of your own family to join you in Thailand as your social backup.

- Learn Thai language, speaking, reading writing

- Make sure to understand everything and get Thai documents translated.

Some more considerations that I think fall both into the legal and social category:

- Don't let the lawyer who handles your investment / setup be a friend of your Thai partner.

- Do find your own lawyer and be the person who deals with him.

- Make sure the lawyer speaks English.

- Don't let the accountant be a friend of your Thai partner.

- Do find your own accountant and be the person who deals with him.

- Make sure the accountant speaks English.

- Don't let your Thai partner bribe any official or establish contacts with officials not known to you.

If taken into consideration, how could the examples above look like to see the foreigner enjoying his investment even after a relationship to a Thai partner turns bad?

1) The foreigner found land in a neutral location, not next to Thai partners friends or family, he has own friends or even family in the area so after insisting on his previously arranged legal rights he feels confortable to continue living in his house.

2) The business of the foreigner has supplier and customer contacts he made himself, he selected staff and family and friends of his Thai partner if any are not essential for continuing the business, do not form a majority of staff. His lawyer and accountant speak English and he feels confident to run the business with new Thai partners and staff.

Feel free to comment, agree, disagree and add more social considerations to this thread. Do not discuss legal aspects, there are other threads for leases, company setups and usufructs, etc..