An Aussie friend of mine is coming back to Thailand with his Thai wife. They are married in Thaiiland and she has his last name. Can she buy a small house in her name? Was that restriction lifted many years ago?

Thanks

An Aussie friend of mine is coming back to Thailand with his Thai wife. They are married in Thaiiland and she has his last name. Can she buy a small house in her name? Was that restriction lifted many years ago?

Thanks

Yes and yes, good to go! She will of course need all of her Thai documents and the husband has to sign a statement to the effect that all the money is hers and not community property.

Thanks

Eljeque, if your friend wants to have some kind of protection for his investment, e.g. be able to maintain living on the property in the unfortunate event of an early death of his wife, this can be made in several ways, and I would suggest using a usufruct since they are married. The usufruct can be done in different ways and your friend should talk to a solicitor first before investing.

The land and the house can be split whereby the land is solely owned by the wife. No agreements between the spouses can change that since foreigners, with some extreme exceptions, cannot own land in Thailand. That is the law.

However, the house can be registered, and this even if it is already built, in the husband's name and that means the house is common property shared by the spouses, so-called Sin Somros. If the wife buys the land and a house without the split the entire property would solely be hers, so-called Sin Suan Tua, whereby the husband has no claim.

Thank you for the information