Thai Wife Being Gifted Land

[siftasam]

The topic of who 'owns' purchased land and property is difficult enough but my Thai wife will receive the land on which we are building our house in her mother's will when that lady dies. This will was made just before I married her daughter.

Therefore, my now mother-in-law still owns the land and the plans for the new house are registered with the local amphur in the name of my wife (again before we were married).

In return for the will being made I volunteered to build my now mother-in-law a new house.

We are all very pleased and happy but I have no idea how secure my position is. I have no usufruct, no 30 year lease, I do not know if my new house (to be finished in October) will be counted as communal property (because although it will be completed after our marriage the plans were registered before our marriage. We have no blue book for it yet.)

I appreciate that I must take legal advice but I would value any comments and advice.

[InterestedObserver]

The Civil and Commercial Code is quite clear on this point. Land acquired via a will or gift during marriage is Sin Suan Tua, not marital property. Upon her mothers passing, the land will belong 100% to your wife. Unless you can acquire land rights (usufruct, superficies, or lease) I'm afraid your position is not terribly secure. I'm not a lawyer, but you need one!

Edited July 12, 2009 by InterestedObserver

[ballbreaker]

You've made all the mistakes on this deal.

Talk to wife and in-law about getting lease or usufruct now. If construction not completed until October you still have a halt construction card to play.

Another thing you can do is keep detailed records of all money for construction of both houses if you provided funds. Your trying to create a paper trail to prove you provided all money. Not sure how it would play in court but if all your money before marriage it sure won't hurt having this paper trail.

[ivowatson]

We are all very pleased and happy...

If everyone's happy, no need to do anything. Just keep them happy.

[Gary A]

Why bother worrying about it? If the relationship fails, you won't be living there anyways.

[Burgernev]

As ballbreaker said, your best bet is to try and obtain a lease or other right to use the property, this has to be issued by the mother-in-law, get a lawyer to help with this. As it sounds as though your land is in their village, then as GaryA rightly says if the relationship turns sour, lease or not, you will not be living in the house. Law of the jungle will see to that.

Re: The house building being complete after marriage but registered in then girlfriends name before marriage, she can just say she paid for all building works upfront to get a big discount off the builder (with an engagement gift from you, family money from under the mattress, or whatever), and magically produce a receipt from builder for same. You will then get your receipts out and say you paid for part of building works after marriage, result = 2 years taking family to local court, paying lawyers, stress, threats. Forget that mate. And even if you win wife will have no money to pay you back your half and can't sell to give you back your money as mother-in-law refuses to sell her land!?!?

If you already smell a rat and relationship is rocky then I personally would stop now, if all is well in relationship then as another poster said just live happy with her for as long as it lasts. But above all, seek legal advice asap.

Good luck with it all anyway, Burgernev

Edited July 12, 2009 by Burgernev

[antony77]

insist on a 30 year lease in your name and register the deed with the amphur. make it conditional that they must do this before doing anything more.

[bob4you]

I would suggest recording a mortgage on the property for the amount of the planned construction cost. That protects you from 2 important factors. #1 if marriage dissolves unsatisfactorily the property cannot be sold without you recovering your money but even more importantly the mother in law cannot get a bank loan or loan shark loan on her property without you being in first position and nobody in Thailand wants to be in second position.

[chiangmaibruce]

In return for the will being made I volunteered to build my now mother-in-law a new house.

Sam, what were you thinking? As others have already indicated your position is one of standing on ice about 2mm thick. She may never get around to making the Will. Even if she does, she could change it the following day with no reference to you ... and you would never know until crunch time. And even if they were fully sincere today, what happens in a year's time when other family have financial problems .. or you and your partner argue, or ...or ...

You need to go in hard NOW with a plan. Think up any workable excuse like "my accountant in farang land needs to me to get my interest in the land recorded so I can <secure a better mortgage on my home in farangland ... etc etc>. Be insistent.

First stop NOW is a good lawyer (not in your local area) who can advise on whether the best option is lease, usufruct, mortgage, etc and draw up the papers ready to sign

[InterestedObserver]

As far as land rights go, you should be aware that not all leases, and so forth, automatically pass on to the property heirs. Your mother-in-law could register a 30 year lease today, but unless it's extremely well written you can end up with nothing when your wife inherits the land. As said, you need a good real estate lawyer.