Here's the quick scenerio: a British husband and wife want to buy a piece of Thai property. The wife is a British citizen but still holds her Thai national ID and passport and has entered Thailand as a Thai national. She buys the property as a Thai, shows she is married (British marriage license translated into Thai) and the husband signs off that it is her money buying the property. Once the chanote transfer is completed, and in the event of her death, she writes a will for the husband so he can sell it, or they can add a thirty year lease now for him so he could remain.

Any potential legal issues seen?

Here's the quick scenerio: a British husband and wife want to buy a piece of Thai property. The wife is a British citizen but still holds her Thai national ID and passport and has entered Thailand as a Thai national. She buys the property as a Thai, shows she is married (British marriage license translated into Thai) and the husband signs off that it is her money buying the property. Once the chanote transfer is completed, and in the event of her death, she writes a will for the husband so he can sell it, or they can add a thirty year lease now for him so he could remain.

Any potential legal issues seen?

As far as i know a Thai national can not hold another citizenship.

Here's the quick scenerio: a British husband and wife want to buy a piece of Thai property. The wife is a British citizen but still holds her Thai national ID and passport and has entered Thailand as a Thai national. She buys the property as a Thai, shows she is married (British marriage license translated into Thai) and the husband signs off that it is her money buying the property. Once the chanote transfer is completed, and in the event of her death, she writes a will for the husband so he can sell it, or they can add a thirty year lease now for him so he could remain.

Any potential legal issues seen?

As far as i know a Thai national can not hold another citizenship.

That is incorrect. Thai law has nothing against a Thai citizen taking on their spouses citizenship and then holding both. They continue to enjoy all the rights afforded to other Thai's, including land ownership

Samran is right as usual. No probs buying property or land.

Now i do not know how the will works out in the case your wife passes before you. There might be possibilities for her relatives etc to challenge it in court?

To be in safe side i would do the lease now or unsufuct? in case you are young and 30 years is not enough.

Samran is right as usual. No probs buying property or land.

Now i do not know how the will works out in the case your wife passes before you. There might be possibilities for her relatives etc to challenge it in court?

To be in safe side i would do the lease now or unsufuct? in case you are young and 30 years is not enough.

Good advice all around and our friends who've done it already concur. We'll have our marriage license from abroad translated into Thai and I'll sign a statement that the purchase money is hers, then after the chanote sale transfer, we'll set up a will and 30 year lease as I'm no spring chicken. Then the real fun starts - BUILDING! My back hurts already. Thanks all.

Here's the quick scenerio: a British husband and wife want to buy a piece of Thai property. The wife is a British citizen but still holds her Thai national ID and passport and has entered Thailand as a Thai national. She buys the property as a Thai, shows she is married (British marriage license translated into Thai) and the husband signs off that it is her money buying the property. Once the chanote transfer is completed, and in the event of her death, she writes a will for the husband so he can sell it, or they can add a thirty year lease now for him so he could remain.

Any potential legal issues seen?

If it is her money...and that can be proved..... I think you may be right, but I'm no lawyer, so I may be wrong. I do know that the Thai government has been questioning the source of funds used by Thais married to foriegners who buy land in their Thai spouses name. If the wife can show it is her money (in this case), it should be good.

Thanks for the information guys.

Obviously i was wrong.

I have done this for over a dozen properties my wife owns. It takes both our signatures to get the Chanote in her name, then I become the heir. Under Thai law I have 6 months to sell the property.

There is also the USEFRET, that allows the property to be willed to another person, but you retain possession until death. This works better if you have not changed her ID card to being a married woman. I spent several hours with the head of the land office explaining why a husband could not rent, or be the receiver of a lease or USEFRET. I was most interested in getting an exact legal resolution to the problem, not manipulating the system.

In the end it turned out a mortgage held by a trust company I set up, was the most bullet proof. No matter which way the chess board was moved, I still had check mate....and that is important in a country like Thailand.