Can Land Be Put In The Name Of My Daughter Who Is 3 Years Old?

[thaisail]

My wife is buying some land near Loei in the northeast. I am a US citizen 55 years old and our daughter is born in Thailand and has both Thai and a US citizenship. I want to know if the land can be put in my daughter's name. My Thai wife tells me that the land must remain in her name until my daughter is 18 years old. She is now only 3 years old. The money for buying this land has come from my wife's income while working abroad before I met her so it is her money but I suppose the Thai law says that land bought during our marriage would be community property. My wife is OK with putting the land in our daughter's name if it can be done legally. Please let me know if this is possible.

[Khun Jean]

Yes it is possible.

As the child is not old enough to make decisions and parents can make decisions that are not good for the child every decision will have to go through court to see if it is in the childs best interest.

[gregb]

My Thai wife tells me that the land must remain in her name until my daughter is 18 years old. She is now only 3 years old. The money for buying this land has come from my wife's income while working abroad before I met her so it is her money but I suppose the Thai law says that land bought during our marriage would be community property. My wife is OK with putting the land in our daughter's name if i*-t can be done legally. Please let me know if this is possible.

As stated above by Khun Jean, you can place the land in the name of your daughter. That is not an issue. The problem becomes if you ever want to sell it. The only way to sell it will be to go to court and ask the judge, because your daughter is a minor. The judge will only agree if it is in the best interest of your daughter...e.g. the money will go to pay for your daughter's tuition to school, etc. Any sale would have to be for your daughter's benefit, not yours. In effect, you are giving a gift to your daughter, and you will no longer have any control of the property. Your daughter can sell the property without the permission of the court once she reaches 20 years of age.

As for your other question, any money your wife earned before you were married is considered sin suan tua. It is not marital property, or sin somros. Your wife may purchase property in her name using funds that are sin suan tua of herself, and the land will belong solely to her. You will have no claim over it, nor will you receive any part of it during a divorce settlement. It will most definitely not be community property. You will also have to sign a paper at the land office testifying that the funds used to purchase the land are sin suan tua of your wife.

[MikeyIdea]

Your wife does not know Thai law thaisail. Thai law accepts any Thai citizen to own land

gregb has explained well, I have only one further comment and that is that you cannot give a debt to a child so the land must not have any loans

My daughter is 5 years old and she owns the house we live in. I find that to be an excellent way to protect what I work hard for in life, my daughter.

My extended family lives 10 km north of Rajabhat Loei

Edited December 9, 2010 by MikeyIdea

[thaisail]

My Thai wife tells me that the land must remain in her name until my daughter is 18 years old. She is now only 3 years old. The money for buying this land has come from my wife's income while working abroad before I met her so it is her money but I suppose the Thai law says that land bought during our marriage would be community property. My wife is OK with putting the land in our daughter's name if i*-t can be done legally. Please let me know if this is possible.

As stated above by Khun Jean, you can place the land in the name of your daughter. That is not an issue. The problem becomes if you ever want to sell it. The only way to sell it will be to go to court and ask the judge, because your daughter is a minor. The judge will only agree if it is in the best interest of your daughter...e.g. the money will go to pay for your daughter's tuition to school, etc. Any sale would have to be for your daughter's benefit, not yours. In effect, you are giving a gift to your daughter, and you will no longer have any control of the property. Your daughter can sell the property without the permission of the court once she reaches 20 years of age.

As for your other question, any money your wife earned before you were married is considered sin suan tua. It is not marital property, or sin somros. Your wife may purchase property in her name using funds that are sin suan tua of herself, and the land will belong solely to her. You will have no claim over it, nor will you receive any part of it during a divorce settlement. It will most definitely not be community property. You will also have to sign a paper at the land office testifying that the funds used to purchase the land are sin suan tua of your wife.

Thank you for your help with this complex problem. My wife leaves tomorrow from Phuket to Loei to buy the land. Do I have to go with her in order for her to put the land in our daughter's name? If we decide for her to put the land in her own name, do I have to go Loei to sign the papers for sin suan tua or can I sign the paper here in Phuket at the local land office instead and she can bring the paper with her tomorrow to Loei. My wife's house book is done in Chalong, Phuket with the landlord of our rented house. If the land is put in our daughter's name, does she have to go Loei with her mother? The plan was that I stay in Phuket and take care of our daughter who is in nursery school while her mom goes to Loei to take care of the land papers. My wife tells me that if she puts the land in her name, she will put my daughter's name on the paper to give her the land should something happen to my wife so that the land would remain in our family and not drift to other Thai relatives. As this is the first piece of land that we have bought, I am in the steep part of the learning curve.

[Mario2008]

As said, you can out the land in your daughters name. If it is put in the daughter's name, you don't have to sign anything. Only when it is put in your wife's name do you have to sign papers.

Putting it in your daughter's name is the best protection for her.

[MikeyIdea]

Putting it in your daughter's name is the best protection for her.

Nicely worded Mario2008

If you buy the land in the daughters name, then the daughter and the mother must come. The daughter has to sign and the land office will use her fingerprint

[thaisail]

As said, you can out the land in your daughters name. If it is put in the daughter's name, you don't have to sign anything. Only when it is put in your wife's name do you have to sign papers.

Putting it in your daughter's name is the best protection for her.

I have been told that if the land is less than three rai, my signature is not required. The land in question is only one rai. As my wife wants to develop this land, she may need to borrow money from the bank to build on this land so we want to know what our options are. What I need to know today is if I must go to Loei to sign papers for her to have the land in her name if the land is bought with money earned before our marriage. And also if the land is bought in her name with money earned after our marriage.

[thaisail]

As said, you can out the land in your daughters name. If it is put in the daughter's name, you don't have to sign anything. Only when it is put in your wife's name do you have to sign papers.

Putting it in your daughter's name is the best protection for her.

We are trying to find out about the Thai law and the advice we are being given is to go the Phuket land office to ask what must be done to buy this land. My feeling is that this is a complicated issue that requires good legal advice. Please can you or anyone reading this message, recommend a land lawyer that speaks English in either Phuket or Bangkok that can give us advice because I fear that the land office in Phuket will not necessarily give us the correct advice on how to buy this land in Loei. My wife wants to build a house or create a fruit market on this land and does not want this land to be our daughter's name in case she decides to sell this land some time in the future if the investment does not work out. It is her own money so I will let her do what she wants with this money but I want to be sure that we have the good legal advice on how to proceed.

[MikeyIdea]

Yor wife buying land in Loei in her own name should be easy. Most Thais would do this without the use of a lawyer even. Local Thai lawyer in Loei can do this in one day, start early morning, price? Not sure up there, 5,000 bath maybe. A good English speaking lawyer in Bangkok charged 10,000 bath when I bought land in my daughters name

Land office interpretation rules can differ a bit from place to place, a lawyer with experience in Phuket may not know local interpretation in Loei. I recommend just calling a local Thai lawyer in Loei

[thaisail]

Yor wife buying land in Loei in her own name should be easy. Most Thais would do this without the use of a lawyer even. Local Thai lawyer in Loei can do this in one day, start early morning, price? Not sure up there, 5,000 bath maybe. A good English speaking lawyer in Bangkok charged 10,000 bath when I bought land in my daughters name

Land office interpretation rules can differ a bit from place to place, a lawyer with experience in Phuket may not know local interpretation in Loei. I recommend just calling a local Thai lawyer in Loei

Yesterday, we went to the Land Office in Phuket and the manager there told us that my 3 year old daughter could not buy land in Thailand unless she gave up her US passport. My daughter was born in Phuket and she has both Thai and US passports since one month after her birth. I want to confirm if this is according to Thai law. As a result, the Phuket land office issued a document that gave my wife permission to buy that land in Loei and also confirmed that the money used to buy the land was sin suan tua.

[CanInBKK]

As for your other question, any money your wife earned before you were married is considered sin suan tua. It is not marital property, or sin somros. Your wife may purchase property in her name using funds that are sin suan tua of herself, and the land will belong solely to her. You will have no claim over it, nor will you receive any part of it during a divorce settlement.

Sorry, a ltittle OT but this has me curious. Does this also apply to debts then as well? If husband/wife has a business loan or other debts prior to marriage and after marriage the business goes bust, are the wife's assets secure from foreclosure?

[sarahsbloke]

As for your other question, any money your wife earned before you were married is considered sin suan tua. It is not marital property, or sin somros. Your wife may purchase property in her name using funds that are sin suan tua of herself, and the land will belong solely to her. You will have no claim over it, nor will you receive any part of it during a divorce settlement. It will most definitely not be community property. You will also have to sign a paper at the land office testifying that the funds used to purchase the land are sin suan tua of your wife.

I am told declarations to the Land Office have no relevance in Thai divorce courts.

There is a growing trend for divorce courts to consider property as joint marital assets unless one party can prove otherwise.

(Despite any forms you may have signed at the Land Office)

[chiangmaibruce]

Thaisail

You are learning an important lesson .. there is a difference between Thai law (as written in the law books in BKK) and Thai law as stated by individual land dept offices, immigration dept offices, etc. You may also get different versions from staff in the same office.

On the issue of buying in the name of a minor this also applies. The law does not stipulate a minimum age but individual land dept offices may do so ... some accept babies, some say the child must be old enough to sign their name, etc etc. Putting land in the name of a minor has strengths and weaknesses depending on exactly what YOU are looking for. The need to get court approval to sell, for example, can be both a positive and a negative. But be aware that this approach (to buy land) is more complex than just that one issue.

[ESB7]

As your wife is Thai I would think she would know the law better than most members on here. This has been discussed many times befor and has been mentioned that yes land can be in the childs name but the Thai parent can transfer to their own name at any time befor the child comes of age......I just done see the benefit for your wife putting land in your daughters name, how does your wife feel about that, after all, the funds to purchase were earnt solely by her befor you met.......why then would she even dream of putting the purchase in someone elses name?

[MikeyIdea]

Yor wife buying land in Loei in her own name should be easy. Most Thais would do this without the use of a lawyer even. Local Thai lawyer in Loei can do this in one day, start early morning, price? Not sure up there, 5,000 bath maybe. A good English speaking lawyer in Bangkok charged 10,000 bath when I bought land in my daughters name

Land office interpretation rules can differ a bit from place to place, a lawyer with experience in Phuket may not know local interpretation in Loei. I recommend just calling a local Thai lawyer in Loei

Yesterday, we went to the Land Office in Phuket and the manager there told us that my 3 year old daughter could not buy land in Thailand unless she gave up her US passport. My daughter was born in Phuket and she has both Thai and US passports since one month after her birth. I want to confirm if this is according to Thai law. As a result, the Phuket land office issued a document that gave my wife permission to buy that land in Loei and also confirmed that the money used to buy the land was sin suan tua.

That is rubbish and not Thai law. Thai law allows Thai citizens to own land in their own country, full stop. Maybe there has been too many westerners buying land in their childrens name and the land office there has decided to not allow it. I find it unlikely that the same would happen if a lawyer do the talking, could be though. My daughter had 2 citizenships (Thai and Swedish) at the time of purchase and she owns land. My signature comes first, then comes the mothers below mine on the purchasing documents stored at the land department in the khet I live (Bangkok). It is advisable to let the lawyer do the talking (regardless of if the law allows it) and if the land official asks about 2nd citizenship, why not just answer - Not yet. I confirm that no one asked me or my lawyer in Bangkok, not important as the law allows it regardless

As I wrote, interpretations differ. You will find Loei a much friendlier place than Phuket I am sure. Your child owning land in Loei should be no problems at all.

Edited December 13, 2010 by MikeyIdea

[MikeyIdea]

As your wife is Thai I would think she would know the law better than most members on here. This has been discussed many times befor and has been mentioned that yes land can be in the childs name but the Thai parent can transfer to their own name at any time befor the child comes of age......I just done see the benefit for your wife putting land in your daughters name, how does your wife feel about that, after all, the funds to purchase were earnt solely by her befor you met.......why then would she even dream of putting the purchase in someone elses name?

Just want to confirm that once an asset is in a minors name, only with a COURT ORDER can the land be released, the same apply to leases, the land offices will only agree to register a lease on land owned by a minor if a court order specifically allowing it is provided. Why do I know? Because the lawyer was denied by a land officer citing Thai law to him. It is easy to give assets to minors, it's difficult to take away, as is exactly the way I want it.

It should be noted that the childs guardians must agree for a court to order to be issued. If the child has one western parent who is a legal guardian, then that parent must also agree for the court to act - then it's also up to if it is good for the child or not too. I am not saying that it's easy to sell assets owned by minors, I am saying that it is safe