Lawyer

[ChenMatt]

Dear Seniors,

I bought a house in a moo ban from a developer in Chiang Mai, it is newly built and now we are ready to do the ownership transfer from developer to my wife's name.

How do I ensure some rights to the property, I am reading on the 30 years rental but my case is slightly complicated since there is a bank loan involved in which I am the co borrower/guarantor to the loan.

Also, how much do lawyers typically charge for drawing up such a legal document?

Thank you all so much!

[AlexRRR]

Cant help you there but if you are making the payments that will keep your better half honest, for a time, of course if the relationship breaks down you might want to consider doing a midnight runner out of the country quick smart since you are the guarantor.

Property/assets brought after getting illegally married is technically 50/50 in Thailand when you find that lawyer do ask about that.

Edited August 18, 2014 by AlexRRR

[ChenMatt]

I asked the lawyer, they said I cannot do the 30 years rental because since I have the loan, the property belongs to the bank.

if it helps, I have 2 kids and am legally married and my kids hold Thai citizenship.

Is there anyway else around this? My concern is not so much about wife absconding but rather in my absence she gets cheated by her scheming relatives..so I want the house safeguarded for my kids's future..

[Robert24]

suggest to ask the lawyer on this forum about your options. I've been reading about a usufruct agreement which you can do between you and your wife but not sure if this is possible when you take out a bank loan to purchase the property.

[dksharron]

I have had friends put the property into their children's names, but there was no mortgage at the time.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

There is no legal agreement you can make with your wife.

What you can do is get all receipts in your name, and make the repayments yourself, your bank account to the bank direct.

Then in the case of divorce, you can reclaim what you paid for the house.

Also make sure you are the beneficiary on the compulsory life insurance they will have your wife take out.

(bank is first beneficiary, you get to be second beneficiary)

Not much trouble relatives can cause when a house is purchased with a home loan.