Thai real estate title searches/private investigators

[submaniac]

I'm in a bit of an inheritance mess right now.   My father recently passed, and his parents, who died about 10 years ago, had large real estate holdings. The land holdings are 70 acres (not rai).   My father has two sisters, who are still alive, who were taking care of the land holdings. Before he died he went back to Thailand, and was informed by his sisters that they had kept the land and chanotes in their parents name (and had not switched them over into their name or my father's).  He made photographs of the chanotes, which is what the family over in the U.S. now has.  Now that my father has passed, I and the rest of the siblings would like to get the land issue sorted out.  The big concern is that the sister transferred the chanotes into her name, thus excluding my father and his side of the family.

 

In the United States, there are title search companies that handle whose land is owned by whom and can trace all the information.  Are there any similar companies that anyone is aware of that could search the title to ensure that the land has not been transferred into the sister's name?  Or perhaps even a private investigator.   As stated, we have the copies of the chanotes so we know which particular property is at issue.  However, I would like to find someone who can do a search for us so we know where to go from here.   I was about to hire a Thai attorney to initiate probate proceedings ont he property.  However, if the land has already been transferred into someone else's name, then that is going to require more work and more legal proceedings.

 

Thanks.

[CharlieH]

I would guess the local Amphur of registration would hold the info.
Things being regionalised not centralised in Thailand. That would be the place to start I would think.

Will move this to real estate forum for better focused advice/comment.

[ATF]

I would guess the local Amphur of registration would hold the info.
Things being regionalised not centralised in Thailand. That would be the place to start I would think.

Will move this to real estate forum for better focused advice/comment.

 

Charlie is right if you have pics of the Chanotes the local Land Dept will be able to point you in the right direction.

 

However don't hold your breath because if the name has been transferred and you don't have a will chances are it's all gone dot com.
 

[N47HAN]

And sorry to say , not withstanding the point , only Thai Nationals can legally own land .

Or Thai registered companies that are a minimum of 51 % Thai owned.

I sincerley wish all the best , but unless Pops had all legally sorted I fear the worse :-(

There is a legal section on TV. Maybe try there , and all the best hope it works out.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[KittenKong]

We dont appear to have been told what nationality any of the people involved are, and it is vitally important.

 

As mentioned, only Thai nationals can own land with their own name on the chanote. Anyone else at best could only have (part) owned a company that itself owned the land, and even for that the majority shareholders would have to be Thai.

 

So, what are the nationalities and how exactly was the land owned?

[submaniac]

Charlie, thank you for moving to land section.

 

 

In response to other inquiries, ALL parties involved are Thai nationals.   Dad, his current wife, and his children--all have Thai nationality and Thai ID cards.   I made a mistake in original posting. Meant to say photocopies (not photographs) of the chanotes showing that original chanotes were in his parent's name (as of 2 years ago).   

 

Which local regional board on TVF does Suphanburi fall under?  I think I'm going to make a post there to see if I can find someone with free time to go down to the local amphur to check on the titles. Thanks.

[PattayaPhom]

You have copies of the Chanotes, if someone in Suphanburi can visit the land office with Chanote numbers a check can be made in a few minutes to present, previous owners and if any loans attached. Try Central forum for Supanburi

[submaniac]

^^Thank you for suggestion. I just posted there.  Great idea.

[Zeegator]

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And sorry to say , not withstanding the point , only Thai Nationals can legally own land .

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned, only Thai nationals can own land with their own name on the chanote. Anyone else at best could only have (part) owned a company that itself owned the land, and even for that the majority shareholders would have to be Thai.

 

Although it is now not relevant to this particular thread, non-Thais can, in fact, inherit land willed to them.   They do have to dispose of it within 12 months of the inheritance though.

[KittenKong]

Although it is now not relevant to this particular thread, non-Thais can, in fact, inherit land willed to them.   They do have to dispose of it within 12 months of the inheritance though.

That's true enough, but not exactly what I would call "owning". More a sort of grace period for inheritance, or extended probate, if you like.