Posting this here, hoping there may be a few visa people with knowledge of Australian lawyers.

 

Thia national > moved to Sydney long time ago > successful and has property in Sydney > recently passed.

 

Supposedly left a will saying family members in Thailand should be beneficiaries, however access to documents being denied by people is Australia.

I don't know why, etc, etc. I know very few details, posting on behalf of a Thai friend.

 

Basically looking for a pointer if anyone has dealings with either a lawyer is Australia or in Thailand who is familiar with law of both countries.

 

Thanks in advance

17 minutes ago, chris2224 said:

however access to documents being denied by people is Australia.

What are the documents that you wish to be privy to? The Will (should be a public document as is filed with the court)?

 

Who are the "people" denying you access?

Yes the will.

A Thai relative who lives in Sydney claims the will is not available, meanwhile, another relative who lives in Thailand says the deceased spoke about a will in which property to be split equally amongst siblings. I don't know the family especially well, none of them are wealthy but it seems the guy who moved to Australia did very well and owns a property worth a substantial amount. When split each family member would get enough to clear out debts, etc...so sort of life changing for them.

 

Interesting you say the will is a public document. I will do some digging around on Google.

Thank-you

On 01/02/2017 at 7:50 PM, chris2224 said:

Yes the will.

A Thai relative who lives in Sydney claims the will is not available, meanwhile, another relative who lives in Thailand says the deceased spoke about a will in which property to be split equally amongst siblings. I don't know the family especially well, none of them are wealthy but it seems the guy who moved to Australia did very well and owns a property worth a substantial amount. When split each family member would get enough to clear out debts, etc...so sort of life changing for them.

 

Interesting you say the will is a public document. I will do some digging around on Google.

Thank-you

If there isn't a will, it won't be a good ending, however if there is a will, a lawyer should be able to sort it, there maybe capital gains tax payable on the property if the Thai National who purchased it was a foreign resident, however if the Thai National had residency status in Australia the beneficiary/s have to dispose of the property within a set period, I think 2 years, otherwise capital gains tax will be payable.

 

If the property is in New South Wales I can refer a conveyancer or a solicitor to investigate, it would be a start either way.

http://www.battleofwills.com.au/get-a-copy-of-the-will.html

All I know is that in the last couple of years there have been a lot of property scams involving people overseas selling other peoples houses from under them while they are on holidays or working overseas. So the Oz Govt. has changed a lot of FOI regs on properties so no one can just access them especially overseas. Info particular to your case may be included in the will such as property locations etc. The executor of the will may be loathe to release any details of the will except to the pertinent individuals if these relatives you speak of are named in the will then surely they would have been contacted by the executor by now.