Fixed account question

[zlodnick]

I think my wife and I have all our affairs in order except one, my fixed account at Bangkok bank.

I have 800k in afixed account for my visa. Immigration said it must be in my name only. My concern is, how does my wife access this account in the event of my death? I asked this question at the bank, 10 years ago when i opened the account and they said she would simply go to court and a judge would give her a document to take to the bank. Is it really that simple or does someone have a better answer?

[Seligne2]

Damn good question! I have the same issue with regards to my son.

[Pib]

Yeap, getting the appropriate court docs is about it...basically validates surviving spouse has rights to the money of the deceased spouse versus someone else. As you know, Thailand haven't reached the point of financial law development yet allowing a person to declare a beneficiary on bank accounts; instead, they do the court probate process.

And regarding your fixed account, I get the impression that you may have just let it ride along in a 3 month fixed account (which matured fixed accounts automatically roll over into) which earns a lot less interest (currently earning 1.125%) than other fixed accounts promotions like their current 11 month 2.8% promotion...way over double the interest of a 3 month fixed account. And since 15% withholding tax has been applied each time a traditional fixed account matures please don't tell me you have not been filing for a refund of that withholding....it's not a hard process. If you have indeed just been letting the money ride in a 3 month fixed account and also not filling for withholding tax refund, you would be much better off in a hybrid fixed account like the Krungsri Bank MeeTai Dai hybrid fixed account currently paying 2.3%, no tax withheld as long as you don't exceed Bt20K interest earned per year, and you can make two free withdrawals per month (Bt50 fee for subsequent per month withdrawals) without in interest penalty like a traditional fixed account has such as the Bangkok Bank traditional fixed accounts. Please disregard this last paragraph if you have been rolling your money over into the best Bangkok Bank fixed account promotions whenever your current fixed account matures (and filing for withholding tax refunds).

[zlodnick]

Thank you Pib,

The probate thing sounds easy enough. If I get sick and it looks like Im going to kick the bucket, Ill just go to the bank and sign the account over to the wife.

To answer your questions, yes and no. I have been letting the account ride. However, every once in awhile, my lady at the bank tells me there is a promotion and I say ok. I did notice the original account was for 12 months and after that, it went to 3 months. In the US a 12 month CD will stay 12 months until you change it. No one ever mentioned a refund. I suppose its too late now, the old bankbooks are long gone. We wont loose any sleep over it

[Stef]

Yeap, getting the appropriate court docs is about it...basically validates surviving spouse has rights to the money of the deceased spouse versus someone else. As you know, Thailand haven't reached the point of financial law development yet allowing a person to declare a beneficiary on bank accounts; instead, they do the court probate process.

And regarding your fixed account, I get the impression that you may have just let it ride along in a 3 month fixed account (which matured fixed accounts automatically roll over into) which earns a lot less interest (currently earning 1.125%) than other fixed accounts promotions like their current 11 month 2.8% promotion...way over double the interest of a 3 month fixed account. And since 15% withholding tax has been applied each time a traditional fixed account matures please don't tell me you have not been filing for a refund of that withholding....it's not a hard process. If you have indeed just been letting the money ride in a 3 month fixed account and also not filling for withholding tax refund, you would be much better off in a hybrid fixed account like the Krungsri Bank MeeTai Dai hybrid fixed account currently paying 2.3%, no tax withheld as long as you don't exceed Bt20K interest earned per year, and you can make two free withdrawals per month (Bt50 fee for subsequent per month withdrawals) without in interest penalty like a traditional fixed account has such as the Bangkok Bank traditional fixed accounts. Please disregard this last paragraph if you have been rolling your money over into the best Bangkok Bank fixed account promotions whenever your current fixed account matures (and filing for withholding tax refunds).

I did not know about the Bt 20K limit for not withholding tax on interest of a Mee Tae Dai account. I did not see that in Krungsri's website. Are you sure? Where did you get the information from?

[Pib]

Yeap, getting the appropriate court docs is about it...basically validates surviving spouse has rights to the money of the deceased spouse versus someone else. As you know, Thailand haven't reached the point of financial law development yet allowing a person to declare a beneficiary on bank accounts; instead, they do the court probate process.

And regarding your fixed account, I get the impression that you may have just let it ride along in a 3 month fixed account (which matured fixed accounts automatically roll over into) which earns a lot less interest (currently earning 1.125%) than other fixed accounts promotions like their current 11 month 2.8% promotion...way over double the interest of a 3 month fixed account. And since 15% withholding tax has been applied each time a traditional fixed account matures please don't tell me you have not been filing for a refund of that withholding....it's not a hard process. If you have indeed just been letting the money ride in a 3 month fixed account and also not filling for withholding tax refund, you would be much better off in a hybrid fixed account like the Krungsri Bank MeeTai Dai hybrid fixed account currently paying 2.3%, no tax withheld as long as you don't exceed Bt20K interest earned per year, and you can make two free withdrawals per month (Bt50 fee for subsequent per month withdrawals) without in interest penalty like a traditional fixed account has such as the Bangkok Bank traditional fixed accounts. Please disregard this last paragraph if you have been rolling your money over into the best Bangkok Bank fixed account promotions whenever your current fixed account matures (and filing for withholding tax refunds).

I did not know about the Bt 20K limit for not withholding tax on interest of a Mee Tae Dai account. I did not see that in Krungsri's website. Are you sure? Where did you get the information from?

The Mee Tai Dai savings account for tax withholding purposes is treated like a regular savings accounts which means interest is not withheld until you exceed Bt20K interest per year. However, for "fixed" accounts the 15% withholding rate is applied for any amount of interest earned...even below the Bt20K level.

For those folks who are maintaining large amount in Krungsri Bank Mee Tai Dai accounts which would result in more than Bt20K interest earned per year apparently they have opened several accounts to ensure none of them exceed Bt20K interest per year. Was apparently recommend by the bank reps. You would think the bank would trigger on "aggregate" interest among the like accounts but apparently they don't.

[Pib]

Thank you Pib,

The probate thing sounds easy enough. If I get sick and it looks like Im going to kick the bucket, Ill just go to the bank and sign the account over to the wife.

To answer your questions, yes and no. I have been letting the account ride. However, every once in awhile, my lady at the bank tells me there is a promotion and I say ok. I did notice the original account was for 12 months and after that, it went to 3 months. In the US a 12 month CD will stay 12 months until you change it. No one ever mentioned a refund. I suppose its too late now, the old bankbooks are long gone. We wont loose any sleep over it

The tax refund is filed for at your local tax revenue office. You can file for up to 3 years back. Not a hard process at all...take 2 to 6 weeks to get your refund depending how speedy your local tax revenue office is. Several ThaiVisa threads on the subject....here's one I started a couple years back.

Since you are not promptly rolling over each of your Bangkok Bank fixed accounts which results in getting the much lower 3 month fixed account interest...and maybe not interested in the getting the 15% withholding tax refunded each year I would guessitmate you are losing out on around 25% of your interest earnings you could be each year due to being invested in fixed accounts which have the mandatory 15% tax withholding for any amount of interest earned and which mature frequently. You are probably only averaging around 2 to 2.25% interest "in your pocket." You might be better off having your Bt800K in a saving account like the Krungsri Bank Mee Tai Dai savings account currently earning 2.3%, no tax is withheld as long as you don't earn more than Bt20K interest per year, and you can make withdrawals without being whacked with a big interest penalty...you can even get an ATM card with the account if desired. And if you do ever go to heaven (or hell) if you had an ATM card and let the wife know what the PIN was, well, nothing stopping her from making some visits to the ATM to ensure you get a proper funeral versus waiting for the probate process to free up the money.

I too use a Bangkok Bank fixed account to keep my Bt800K I use for retirement extension purposes...and I also feel it serves as an emergency pool of big-money-needed-now. What I do when I rollover my matured Bt800K fixed account is do it in "two" deposits of around Bt500K and Bt300K in one account so if I do ever need to access the money for an emergency which requires far less than Bt800K I can tap just "one" of the deposits which in turn incurs the big interest penalty only on that deposit and not on the other deposit. Just FYI in case you don't already do this. I also have the Krungsri Bank Mee Tai Dai savings account just to diversify by banking a little which also doubles by government insurance coverage of banking accounts. With the coverage probably dropping back to Bt1M per person per bank in a few years, it might be best to have some of your money in another bank if keeping more than Bt1M in Thai banks.

[Stef]

Yeap, getting the appropriate court docs is about it...basically validates surviving spouse has rights to the money of the deceased spouse versus someone else. As you know, Thailand haven't reached the point of financial law development yet allowing a person to declare a beneficiary on bank accounts; instead, they do the court probate process.

And regarding your fixed account, I get the impression that you may have just let it ride along in a 3 month fixed account (which matured fixed accounts automatically roll over into) which earns a lot less interest (currently earning 1.125%) than other fixed accounts promotions like their current 11 month 2.8% promotion...way over double the interest of a 3 month fixed account. And since 15% withholding tax has been applied each time a traditional fixed account matures please don't tell me you have not been filing for a refund of that withholding....it's not a hard process. If you have indeed just been letting the money ride in a 3 month fixed account and also not filling for withholding tax refund, you would be much better off in a hybrid fixed account like the Krungsri Bank MeeTai Dai hybrid fixed account currently paying 2.3%, no tax withheld as long as you don't exceed Bt20K interest earned per year, and you can make two free withdrawals per month (Bt50 fee for subsequent per month withdrawals) without in interest penalty like a traditional fixed account has such as the Bangkok Bank traditional fixed accounts. Please disregard this last paragraph if you have been rolling your money over into the best Bangkok Bank fixed account promotions whenever your current fixed account matures (and filing for withholding tax refunds).

I did not know about the Bt 20K limit for not withholding tax on interest of a Mee Tae Dai account. I did not see that in Krungsri's website. Are you sure? Where did you get the information from?

The Mee Tai Dai savings account for tax withholding purposes is treated like a regular savings accounts which means interest is not withheld until you exceed Bt20K interest per year. However, for "fixed" accounts the 15% withholding rate is applied for any amount of interest earned...even below the Bt20K level.

For those folks who are maintaining large amount in Krungsri Bank Mee Tai Dai accounts which would result in more than Bt20K interest earned per year apparently they have opened several accounts to ensure none of them exceed Bt20K interest per year. Was apparently recommend by the bank reps. You would think the bank would trigger on "aggregate" interest among the like accounts but apparently they don't.

Thanks for the information. I'll go and ask my bank if splitting my money between 2 accounts will help avoid the withholding tax refund burden.

[zlodnick]

Thanks again Pib,

I was looking at my wifes fixed account. It is a 12 month account, but each time it rolls over, it does not fall back to 3 months like mine. Maybe differnt rules for Thais?

For some reason I was under the impression that the government insurance was Bt 1M per account, not per person. We each have a fixed account and we have a joint account, so I guess we should move 1 account to another bank.

What are the chances Bangkok Bank would ever go bust?

[craigt3365]

We'll be opening a Mee Tae Dai savings account for my mother tomorrow. It will have 900k deposited and I'll just have to keep an eye on it to roll it over before it gets to 20k interest to avoid taxes.

I'm going with this account due to the ATM access. If something happens to my mother, I'll be able to get the money out. Plus, I'll be able to roll it over on her behalf without her presence required. I guess they've got some forms at the bank that basically allow you to be a fiduciary agent on another's behalf.

With regards to your wife having access after your passing, it's a real hit and miss thing. And even if you have a proper will here, it could take a long time for her to get the money. There's some good info here and a story from a member who's gone down this route:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/618983-the-importance-of-preparing-a-will-in-thailand/page-11

[meatboy]

Thanks again Pib,

I was looking at my wifes fixed account. It is a 12 month account, but each time it rolls over, it does not fall back to 3 months like mine. Maybe differnt rules for Thais?

For some reason I was under the impression that the government insurance was Bt 1M per account, not per person. We each have a fixed account and we have a joint account, so I guess we should move 1 account to another bank.

What are the chances Bangkok Bank would ever go bust?

at the moment the gov.insurance is 50million,it was proposed to alter last yr.but was put on the back burner,so who knows what will they do this yr,

also when a fixed acc.mature's you have to give them new instructions as to where you want it,otherwise it will go into a holding acc.paying peanuts.

[Pib]

Thanks again Pib,

I was looking at my wifes fixed account. It is a 12 month account, but each time it rolls over, it does not fall back to 3 months like mine. Maybe differnt rules for Thais?

For some reason I was under the impression that the government insurance was Bt 1M per account, not per person. We each have a fixed account and we have a joint account, so I guess we should move 1 account to another bank.

What are the chances Bangkok Bank would ever go bust?

It can depend on whether a person opened the fixed account under a promotional rate or standard rate terms and conditons...it's not Thai or farang related. I've always opened a fixed account for X-months under their promotional rate which is much higher than the standard rate for the same number of months. Each time when the promotional fixed account matured it automatically rolled over into the 3 month fixed term which was a stated in the special terms and conditions.

However, the basic terms and conditions for a standard fixed account says it will be rolled over into the same term length at the interest rate in effect at the time. So, if wife's 12 month fixed account say was paying 1.5% and she did not open that fixed account under a promotional rate then it appears it does roll over into another 12 month fixed term which could be paying less or more...all depends on the standard rate in effect at the time. And to be sure what the fixed account has rolled over into it will say in a passbook line item print somthing along the lines of "Term 3 Mo Rate 1.125%" depending on what Term and Rate the account rolled over into See is cut and paste for the Bangkok Bank T&Cs on fixed accounts.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBankThai/Documents/Site%20Documents/Other/Condition_SavingFixed.pdf

No, the coverage is "per person per bank." And if having money at different branches of the same bank that is still considered as per person per bank. For examples, lets say the coverage has already dropped back to the Bt1M point. If you say had 10 accounts at Bangkok Bank (same branch or different branches) with each account having Bt1M in it, you would only get Bt1M in deposit insurance coverage from the govt if the bank failed. See this Thai Law Forum article that explains it pretty well and gives some examples. Link. And a partial quote from the link follows gives a good overview although the date for the Bt1M coverage kicking in has been extended to a later date than when the article was written.

For the purposes of the general investor, meaning any of us living in Thailand or holding funds in a financial institution here, the key item in the Act concerns the amount of protection per depositor and per bank. Since the Act came into place and through the 10 th of August 2011, the full amount of each deposit is covered. Because of this, it was not necessary to worry over where funds are placed, or how they are distributed between accounts. Whatever the amount deposited, you were covered. Period. Taking effect 11 August 2011 until 10 August 2012 , the coverage drops to 50 million baht per depositor per bank. For most of us, this is still quite a comprehensive coverage amount.

The concern is going forward from 11 August 2012, just a little over a year away, when only 1 million baht will be covered by government protection. The implications of this change are significant, especially when one looks at how the coverage will apply. Multiple branches of the same bank will count as one deposit and will be lumped together. Though married couples will receive protection on a per person and per account basis of up to 1 million, separately, in the event of their owning a joint account, protection will not be separated out for that account. In most cases, the money will be split and counted against the individual account of each spouse. This means that management of funds across varied institutions may become a need for many depositors.

[Pib]

We'll be opening a Mee Tae Dai savings account for my mother tomorrow. It will have 900k deposited and I'll just have to keep an eye on it to roll it over before it gets to 20k interest to avoid taxes.

I'm going with this account due to the ATM access. If something happens to my mother, I'll be able to get the money out. Plus, I'll be able to roll it over on her behalf without her presence required. I guess they've got some forms at the bank that basically allow you to be a fiduciary agent on another's behalf.

With regards to your wife having access after your passing, it's a real hit and miss thing. And even if you have a proper will here, it could take a long time for her to get the money. There's some good info here and a story from a member who's gone down this route:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/618983-the-importance-of-preparing-a-will-in-thailand/page-11

You wouldn't need to roll it over; instead just keep the amount deposited a little below the level while considering the interest rate that would earn Bt20K interest per year. But maybe that is what you meant by roll it over....I expect it is.

Like if Bt868K was deposited at the current interest rate of 2.3% that would equate to around Bt19,964 interest per year...falling just short of the Bt20K tax withholding trigger level. Then if you withdrew that interest earned to draw back down the balance while taking in account the current interest rate, you would be good to go in safely entering the second year without incurring in withholding tax. Maybe just keep the balance around Bt850K would be the way to go and then have any additonal money in another account....maybe a second Mee Tae Dai account if it's really true the bank won't key in on aggregate interest of like accounts like some ThaiVisa posters have said...or just play it safe and open another account at another bank like Bangkok Bank which will also give additional govt deposit insurance coverage.

[craigt3365]

I'm not 100% sure, Mr. Pib. I think what the bank employee told me was you needed to completely close the account before it earned more than 20k interest to avoid paying taxes. But I'll know more this week when I get it opened up! I'll report back what I found out.

[Pib]

That would imply the interest count don't reset yearly/every 1 Jan....kinda like opening an account and after X-years you have earned over Bt20K in interest and then out of the blue they start applying withholding tax. Withholding tax on a non-fixed savings account does not come into play unless you exceed Bt20K interest earned "per year." Then come 1 Jan the interest earned counter is reset.

Now with a fixed account by law the 15% withholding tax applies on any amount of interest earned and the tax is withheld when the interest is paid upon term maturity whether its a 3 mo, 12 month, 15 mo, 24 mo, etc., whatever term account. The Mee Tai Dai account pays interest monthly and it's not a fixed account...it's more like a regular savings account with debit card if desired versus a fixed savings account. I refer to it as a hybrid account since it seems to be a cross between a regular savings account but paying much higher interest and a more rigid fixed account with no debit card allowed where you can't withdraw funds before maturity unless you want to take a big interest loss.

I expect there was Thai-English communications disconnect. Will be interesting what you find out tomorrow. And as mentioned I have seen posts on ThaiVisa of folks who have multiple Mee Tai Dai accounts for big money deposits (i.e, several million baht) and they have their big money spread across multiple accounts just to avoid any of the accounts hitting the Bt20K interest earned per year. The posts seemed creditable. I tried to find some of them via searching but after about 5 minutes I gave up as I just couldn't find the specific ones I remember reading...plenty of posts on the Krungsri Mee Tai Dai account but I just couldn't find the specific ones I was looking for.

One more bit of info assuming you will be getting a debit card with the account. Krungsri has a half dozen or so debit cards available if you want one. With the exception of one, they all come with an annual fee (some were on promotion with no annual fee for a year or two) and some have accident/life insurance which I consider a waste....and of course various annual fees. I got their basic card that does "not" have an annual fee, however, you must take their SMS service at 19 baht/month. So in a round about way you are still paying an annual fee for the card of 12 X Bt19 = Bt228 but at least you have SMS notices of deposits, withdrawals, etc.

[craigt3365]

I think you are right on with that one. I guess if it's a 15+ month term, then you'll pay taxes all along...or at least at the end. I'll have to ask the guy if it resets every year. If it does, just put in 800, at 2.3% interest, works out to 18,400 or so. OK for now, but might have to watch it in the future if rates rise! A problem I'd love to have.

I'll do an update later this week....Thanks!!

[Pib]

I think you are right on with that one. I guess if it's a 15+ month term, then you'll pay taxes all along...or at least at the end. I'll have to ask the guy if it resets every year. If it does, just put in 800, at 2.3% interest, works out to 18,400 or so. OK for now, but might have to watch it in the future if rates rise! A problem I'd love to have.

I'll do an update later this week....Thanks!!

I recently just had a Bangkok Bank 15 month, 3.25% fixed account mature...it was a promotional rate....opened it Sep 13...it matured Dec 14 and payed interest in Dec 14. And what was confusing it reported interest & tax being paid in Sep 14 and again in Dec 14, but that Sep payment did not appear until the Dec payment. And it showed the account automatically being rolled over into a 3 month fixed term paying 1.125% which I knew would happen

Now that Sep 14 interest/tax payment did not appear until Dec 14 when the 15 month account matured. The entries on the passbook, especially the "two sets" of interest/tax payment made me think they had started paying interest and tax in advance/immediately upon entering a fixed account like the auto rollover into the 3 mo fixed account. So there I was thinking tax for the 3 month account had already been sent to the govt but I was going to roll over the whole balance to the best promotion when I was able to get to the bank...I was planning to roll it over into the 11 month, 2.8% promotion which I did end up doing. And I was also thinking they had only paid me for 12 months interest on the 15 month account...I was indeed confused.

When I got to the bank about a week after the 15 month deposit matured I queried them on the Sep interest/tax payment which was only 12 months into the 15 month term and what also appeared to me as them paying in advance interest and tax on the 3 month deposit I got automatically rolled into. I was going around and around with the first bank rep that was trying her best to explain it to me but she knew very little English and my Thai ain't that great.

Then the branch manager came over who did speak good English and she explained that I had not been paid interest and tax in advance on the 3 month auto rollover and the reason it showed a Sep and Dec interest/tax payment was because their interest accounting system operates on 12 month interest baseline so when the 15 month deposit matured in Dec the system first calculated "12" months interest at 3.25% and a millisecond later calculated 3 months of interest at 3.25% thereby creating two sets of interest and tax payments for that 15 month fixed account....and like I mentioned the passbook entry made it look like one payment occur Sep 14 but actually it occurred Dec 14. Yeap, I sure was confused until she explained it to me that way....this was also the first time I had a fixed account that stretched beyond 12 months.

And I just now wondered if I had entered that 15 month account one month later (Oct 13) and it had then matured this month (Jan 15) I would have ended up with two interest/tax payments reflecting in my passbook for Oct 14 and Jan 15 which means to file for the refund of the 15% withholding tax I would have had to file two tax refund requests....one for the Oct "14" tax which I could file for Jan-Mar 15 and then wait until next year Jan-Mar 16 to file for the Jan "15" tax payment?

[chiang mai]

The easy answer to the OP's question is to leave the account in his name but to make his wife a co-signer on the account, new signatories can be added at any time.

[Pib]

The easy answer to the OP's question is to leave the account in his name but to make his wife a co-signer on the account, new signatories can be added at any time.

I did that once on a Bangkok Bank fixed account...couple extra forms and a 30 baht govt stamp duty. Gave me a new passbook that was still only in my name but on the last page where the signatures are and only seen under a blacklight, both the wife and I signed. But when you roll over the account you'll need to take the wife in to redo that paperwork for the new account.

[kokesaat]

I've been pondering this same question for several months......two acquaintances recently passed and that gave me the impetus to talk to the bank about this situation.

I bank at SCB. Have a fixed retirement account in my name only. The bank manager suggested I prepare a letter explaining that in the event of my death, my wife should have immediate access to the account.

First I did the letter in English....but then did some google research and found a law website that provided an example of a 'will' that I think will do the trick. I have not yet brought the letter back to SCB to discuss it with the bank manager. I also understand that what works for this bank manager, may not work for the next bank manager....assuming I outlive the current one.

I don't own our land, nor our home, nor our vehicle. All my financial affairs in the US are either joint accounts or IRA with my wife as beneficiary. When I die, I'd prefer my wife be able to walk into the bank and draw out the 800k and put it into her own account......without any delay.

If anyone cares to comment on my letter....suggestions/criticism....I welcome it. It's in Thai with the English translated only for the purposes of this post.

ทำที่บ้านเลขที่ xx หมู่ x ต. xxxxxxxx อ.เมือง จ.xxxxxxx
วันที่ 7 มกราคม 2558

(My address and date)

ข้าพเจ้า นายxxxxxxxxxx (my name in English) อายุ xx ปี อยู่บ้านเลขที่ xx ม. x ต.xxxxxx อ.เมือง จ.xxxxx ขอทำพินัยกรรมไว้ว่า เมื่อข้าพเจ้าถึงแก่กรรมไปแล้ว ทรัพย์สินของข้าพเจ้าให้ตกเป็นกรรมสิทธิ์ ของบุคคลดังต่อไปนี้
(I, name, age, living at address, request that upon my death my assets be handled as follows:
ข้อที่ 1 ให้เงินสดในบัญชีที่ธนาคารไทยพาณิชย์ จำกัด สาขาถนนxxxxx จ.xxxxxx ทั้งหมดให้ตกเป็นของนางxxxxxxxx ภรรยาของข้าพเจ้า

(#1 the funds in my account at Siam Commerial Bank, address of the branch) be made immediately to my wife (name)

ข้าที่ 2 ถ้าภรรยานายxxxxxxถึงแก่กรรมก่อนข้าพเจ้า ให้เงินสดในบัญชีที่ธนาคาร ทั้งหมกให้ตกเป็นของลูกสาวนางxxxxxxxxxxx (name in English)

(#2 in the event my wife dies before me, the funds in the bank listed in item #1 be made available to my daughter (name)
พินัยกรรมฉบับนี้ข้าพเจ้าและพยานได้อยู่พร้อมกัน ข้าพเจ้าได้ลงลายมือชื่อต่อหน้าพยานสองคนพร้อมกันและพยานทั้งสองคนได้ลงลายมือชื่อต่อหน้าข้าพเจ้าโดยพร้อมเพรียงกัน ขณะทำพินัยกรรมนี้ข้าพเจ้ามีสติสัมปชัญญะบริบูรณ์ดี เพื่อเป็นหลักฐานจึงลงลายมือชื่อไว้

(the following has been signed by me and two witnesses at the same time as shown below)

ลงชื่อ_____________________________________ผู้ทำพินัยกรรม

(xxxxxxxxxxx)

ลงชื่อ__________________________พยาน

เขียนชื่อ___________________________________

บ้านเลขที่________________________________________________

ลงชื่อ_____________________________________พยาน

เขียนชื่อ___________________________________

บ้านเลขที่________________________________________________

I plan to take the letter to the bank tomorrow for the manager's review and comments. I feel more confident with the above letter (will) than I have with previous wills made by me in previous years.

Comments?

[ajahnlau]

Don't worry about getting your 15% tax back, I went yesterday and it took 10mins. and told come back in 2 wks. for refund.

[zlodnick]

So. as co-signer, does that give my wife access to the account in the event of my death?

Also, would that be a problem for me in the event of her death?

[KittenKong]

We'll be opening a Mee Tae Dai savings account for my mother tomorrow. It will have 900k deposited and I'll just have to keep an eye on it to roll it over before it gets to 20k interest to avoid taxes.

I'm going with this account due to the ATM access. If something happens to my mother, I'll be able to get the money out. Plus, I'll be able to roll it over on her behalf without her presence required. I guess they've got some forms at the bank that basically allow you to be a fiduciary agent on another's behalf.

From previous discussion I think that you want to deposit 900k partly in order to be able to use it for a retirement extension. If so, and if that takes you close to the tax threshold, just open two MTD accounts and put 600K in one and the rest in another. This will still be fully acceptable for the retirement extension and will avoid any tax being deducted in either account, even if rates go up (which looks likely).

You might need to have two ATM cards of course, to allow access to both accounts if needed, but that is a fee of only a couple of hundred Baht. Or internet banking would allow you to transfer from one account to the other, prior to using just one ATM card for withdrawals.

[chiang mai]

So. as co-signer, does that give my wife access to the account in the event of my death?

Also, would that be a problem for me in the event of her death?

Technically the bank should freeze the account as soon as it learns of the death of the account holder, the next step would then be for probate to manage the disbursement of the deaceaseds assets under his/her will. It would be for your wife to determine whether or not she would wish to notify the bank in those circumstances.

EDIT: to answer your second point: no, the death of a co-signer does not impact the account holder management of an account.

Edited January 7, 2015 by chiang mai

[craigt3365]

So. as co-signer, does that give my wife access to the account in the event of my death?

Also, would that be a problem for me in the event of her death?

It depends on the bank, the branch, the manager's mood that day, the position of the sun and the moon, etc. It's not a clear process here.

One reason I'm changing banks is TMB is just too difficult to work with. We get different info depending on whom we talk with. And the net is, for TMB, we need to have a very proper will, and it will have to be taken to court after her death to be made valid. Too much hassle for me. Thus, the reason for the new account. A tiny bit less in interest, but not that much.

I posted in that other thread about our neighbors friends who can not access the full amount in the account after the death of one. The bank is now asking for the birth certificates of his parents! They've been gone for 30 years or more! Joint account, but they'll only let her have 1/2. Crazy. Lawyers are involved and the fight has been going on for over a year. The will is in the UK, but not here in Thailand. Thus, it's not accepted here.