Buying Land For My Child

[Daffy D]

Been following the various threads about property and especially land purchase. Seems the way to go is put land in the child's name and lease the house on a 30/30 cycle.

Sounds ideal but what happens if the child dies before you or your wife/partner?

I would imagine that as the courts have control over the land till the child reaches 21 it will be up to them to decide.

They can't give the land back to you as it was never yours in the first place, and Farangs can't own land anyway, so the logical thing to do would be to give it to the wife, which defeats the original purpose.

So what would happen?

To those who completely and absolutely trust their wife to do whats best for your kids after you've gone keep in mind the pressures she could be under from members of her extended family for support and money for various dubious projects.

While you are around she can always say "sorry about your dead buffalo but my husband is stingy so can't help" without creating any family rifts.

But once you are gone your influence is gone and if she has land and property in her name she could be under immense family pressure to mortgage the property, to buy new buffalo, without much chance of getting the money back and your kids could be left in a pretty poor state.

Just something to think about.

[chiangmaibruce]

A few comments in relation to your post:

1. "Seems the way to go is put land in the child's name and lease the house on a 30/30 cycle."

Putting land in a child's name is the "way to go" for certain people - not everyone - as this depends on your individual goals and circumstances.

If you do choose to put land in a child's name then you (ie. via your child) are unlikely to be able to enter into a lease without court approval and/or some pretty fancy footwork ... which might later be overturned via a court challenge anyway

2. "what happens if the child dies before you or your wife/partner?"

That depends on the age of the child at time of death. Children under (I think) 15 cannot have a Will (in Thailand). I would assume then that if they died then the normal laws applying to people without a Will would apply as per the civil and commercial code (google on this for details of how the assets are split). If older than 15, and the child had a valid Will, then it would go to whoever it was left to. If left to a farang then you have a year to transfer to a Thai (according to the law) and maybe a lot longer (according to reports re: the experiences of certain individuals)

Edited December 26, 2011 by chiangmaibruce

[Khun Jean]

Never done it, but can you put the land in more than 1 persons name.

Seems such an easy question but i never had the need.

[chiangmaibruce]

Never done it, but can you put the land in more than 1 persons name.

Yes, that is certainly another aproach to consider. But if the minor was only a part-owner how would this affect the normal restrictions on a child being gifted encumbered property or not being able to enter into a contract (in this case a lease)? I don't know the answer ... but I suspect it might still require court approval (and obviously wife's agreement) to enable such an arrangement to proceed

[scotinsiam]

This post is a little disturbing on many levels, why not do things legally and then not murder your child later on? What's the problem with doing things legally?

[Daffy D]

Thanks for the replies.

Some interesting points raised. Obviously some in depth discussion with lawyers will be needed before starting anything.

:-)

Murder!!!! who mentioned Murder????? :-0

[letitbe]

we've put several properties land and condos in our 2 children's names here since they were born and although we were warned they could not be sold until they reached 20 years of age. we've never thought of this problem if we survive our children but as someone suggests I guess it will revert to the parents which is no problem and since I trust my wife and have always dome so with most of our assets in here name we do however have 1 same regret in putting so much in our childrens names. Not least since years alter we actually would have liked to sell one of 2 bits being condos in BKK before forang quota was used up and so since its in our children's names as Thai citizens the units are worth around 30% less than identical units which can be sold to forang. 2 or 3 which were in my wifes name we sold 2 of them and transferred one to my name but of course had to pay the tax at land office for transfer. Best laid plans of mice and men as they say.

[thaiwanderer]

A little confused by the OP - if you and the child / children die - the wife squandering the child / children's inheritance ('leaving them in a poor state') doesn't apply, since they and you are dead anyway?

[Daffy D]

A little confused by the OP - if you and the child / children die - the wife squandering the child / children's inheritance ('leaving them in a poor state') doesn't apply, since they and you are dead anyway?

The second part of my post was just some observations and not really part of the OP.

Perhaps I was not quite clear but I was thinking of a situation where I buy land in the child's name but then the child dies before me or the wife. Who would inherit the land?

[thaiwanderer]

I suspect via succession (rather than by Will) the child's parents, in equal shares - as a foreigner you'd then be subject to a forced time limited sale.

See Civil and Commercial Code sections 1599 to 1755, especially sections 1629-1634.

AFAIK a child cannot make a will - at most (if at all) a Court would need to agree with a Will on behalf of a child circumventing succession, which I think unlikely since not in the child's interests?

Edited January 6, 2012 by thaiwanderer