Death In Thailand With Assets In Uk

[MHM]

My husband very recently died in Thailand - he lived very happily over here for 16 years although he kept assets in the UK in a house, endowments and savings. He also has a UK pension. The situation is complicated by him not leaving a will and I am looking to apply for probate asap. My sister has come over from the UK for 8 days and will be leaving Thailand on 27/10/11 and I am hoping to at least make a start at sorting things out.

I am just wondering if anybody else has been through this process and can offer any advice.

Greatly appreciated.

[Frogster]

I am afraid I cannot put forward any helpful advice, but I (along with many others on here I am sure) offer my condolences in what must be a very traumatic time for you.

[cardholder]

Sorry to hear your news.

You will need to take out Letters of Administration as there was no Will. You can do it or you can appoint a UK lawyer to do it for you (suggest former family solicitor or someone in locality of the family).

There are a number of things that you may be entitled to and I would suggest that you start here for advice/information:-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_10017690

The Direct.gov website is quite user friendly but the whole process can be quite cumbersome.

It is important that you have someone like your late husband's sister to help because this will be challenging to do on your own. Do you intend going to the UK to deal with this, or handle it from Thailand ?

Feel free to PM if you have any specific questions but initially it is a case of getting the death certificate translated and notorised.

[malcolminthemiddle]

Please check out the rules of intestacy in the UK here.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_family/family_index_ew/who_can_inherit_if_there_is_no_will___the_rules_of_intestacy.htm

[SantiSuk]

Phone and engage a UK lawyer immediately. May not be necessary if you have time to figure it out yourself with the aid of internet searches and forums like this, but you don't need that hassle.

Any medium-sized law firm in a provincial town or city close to where the deceased person lived would be suitable. If you want to differentiate, look on their website to see if they have a family law specialist (nearly all of them will have as it is bread and butter). Remember lawyers in the UK are 99% totally reliable as far as not defrauding their clients are concerned. Doesn't mean you will always get the quickest service, but my guess is that they would rise to your emergency occasion.

Law firm = "solicitors" of course in the UK. I internationalised it unnecessarily.

Edited October 20, 2011 by SantiSuk

[cardholder]

Please check out the rules of intestacy in the UK here.

http://www.advicegui...f_intestacy.htm

A useful link but I would imagine that the OP will be aware that as legal wife, and next of kin, she can take out Letters of Administration and liquidate the estate (or whatever) for her benefit.

Another link for applying for a Grant of Letters of Administration:-

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029802

[paully]

A useful link but I would imagine that the OP will be aware that as legal wife, and next of kin, she can take out Letters of Administration and liquidate the estate (or whatever) for her benefit.

Yes. All his property will pass to the OP automatically, as she is the surviving spouse. Not a very difficult task to administrate. The OP shouldn't bother with a lawyer unless the estate is a very large one. All they'll do is slow things down and charge a fat fee.

[Thongkorn]

A useful link but I would imagine that the OP will be aware that as legal wife, and next of kin, she can take out Letters of Administration and liquidate the estate (or whatever) for her benefit.

Yes. All his property will pass to the OP automatically, as she is the surviving spouse. Not a very difficult task to administrate. The OP shouldn't bother with a lawyer unless the estate is a very large one. All they'll do is slow things down and charge a fat fee.

I would go see a solicitor because the Tax man will take a lot of any probate if a will has not been made.

[cardholder]

A useful link but I would imagine that the OP will be aware that as legal wife, and next of kin, she can take out Letters of Administration and liquidate the estate (or whatever) for her benefit.

Yes. All his property will pass to the OP automatically, as she is the surviving spouse. Not a very difficult task to administrate. The OP shouldn't bother with a lawyer unless the estate is a very large one. All they'll do is slow things down and charge a fat fee.

I would go see a solicitor because the Tax man will take a lot of any probate if a will has not been made.

The tax man will not.

Only if the estate is over GBP325,000 will there be any IHT implications.

[Thongkorn]

depending on the value of the house you will have to pay inheritance tax, because he died intestate, The law decides who gets what, after all the bills have been paid,

[cardholder]

depending on the value of the house you will have to pay inheritance tax, because he died intestate, The law decides who gets what, after all the bills have been paid,

The UK laws if Intestacy are VERY clear. The widow (forgive me, I do not know her name) will inherit the entire estate and tax will only become payable if the total value exceeds GBP 325,000. If their are any joint bank accounts etc these will transfer automatically by survivorship and will be excluded from the estate.

This is not the time to be critical of the deceased for not making a Will should IHT become payable. The facts are that there are assets in the UK that require Administration by, or on behalf of, the widow. These assets will pass to the widow - they can be liquidated to provide a capital sum or, depending on the asset class, can be held to generate an income. There may be tax implications on such income depending on the widows' tax status - I am assuming her to be Thai and subject to Thai tax rules.

Edited October 20, 2011 by cardholder

[prakhonchai nick]

Without going into detail, it should be noted that different rules for IHT apply when one spouse is not domiciled in the UK. The 325.000GBP starting point for tax does not necessarily apply.

[MHM]

A big thank you to everybody for your replies and kind condolences - they are a great comfort at this extremely difficult time. Following the vague details initially posted just to let you know that Helen, who is British,is planning to stay in Thailand (the place she loves) and develop the wonderful spa business that Craig and her worked so hard to develop. She has good family support in the UK and I am hoping that, with the right advice and some determination, we will be able to make things as easy as possible for her to carry on with her dream.

Thanks again for the extremely helpful suggestions, info and links.

Best wishes Sue (Helen's sister)

[paully]

Best wishes to Helen and you too, Sue, in this difficult time for you.