I am currently in Mahasarakhan with my Thai lady's family, my Thai lady ( partner ) of 25 years recently passed away. Previously we resided together in Pattaya, Whilst in Pattaya my Thai lady had a will drawn up by a very reputable lawyer. In the will she leaves any monies in her bank account to her two grand children for their education, there is no dispute within the family over this bequest. We approached the bank here in Mahasarakham and spoke with one of the assistants, she informed us that as there is more than 10.000 baht in the account we must have a court order to release it.

Surely  this can not  be correct, if it is correct what is the point of making a genuine will at some expense in the first place. To obtain a court order would entail even more expense to retain a lawyer and I  can imagine the value of the bequest diminishing rapidly.

Has anyone any knowledge of these type of legal matters, if so it would be appreciated. No doubt it will end up retaining a lawyer to settle the issue.

Cheers

Waste of time to go to court for such a paltry sum. Surely the bank should be considerate and just handover the money on a written request with a copy of death certificate. Talk to the bank manager.

In the USA, while you do not need a court order, you do need to go thru a legal process that legitimizes the will. When my mom passed as executor I had to file the will with the local county office along with the death certificate and they provided documentation that it was indeed legitimate. Once that was done I took that evidence to the bank and closed the account. 

What the bank are asking for is probate which is normal, this gives the executor powers to close any bank accounts and dispose of any assets , it is not normally understood that even with a will you need to go to court for probate. Average cost is 50,000 baht legal fees. 

Sadly..you may have to go through the court process..probate can be easily 6 months..


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22 minutes ago, saakura said:

Waste of time to go to court for such a paltry sum. Surely the bank should be considerate and just handover the money on a written request with a copy of death certificate. Talk to the bank manager.

It's more than 10k he does not state how much but must be a fair amount. I have been wondering about this process and have come to conclusion to just tell my mrs to take the money out of my account when I am gone with the ATM card. Not legal but they the Bank will not know i'm dead.

She could get into big trouble doing that..same as the UK..imo.
Bite the bullet..employ a quality lawyer..I know when I pop off..our lawyer's fees in Chaiyaphum will be approx 6000 baht plus court fees..approx 6 months is average time re Probate being processed

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45 minutes ago, tonray said:

In the USA, while you do not need a court order, you do need to go thru a legal process that legitimizes the will. When my mom passed as executor I had to file the will with the local county office along with the death certificate and they provided documentation that it was indeed legitimate. Once that was done I took that evidence to the bank and closed the account. 

The OP is in Thailand !

Thai law is same as UK..PROBATE PROBATE..please believe me

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41 minutes ago, malt25 said:

The OP is in Thailand !

The principles of law and probate are very similar US/UK/Thailand/Canada/Australia/NZ/etc etc.

 

My point was you do not need a lawyer but need to simply find out who in your city can certify will as legally authentic and you are good to go.

A paltry sum is anything above 10.000 Baht so who in their right mind would pay a lawyer a lot of money to execute, what if it is lets say 15.000 Baht.

Thanks for all the replies but I am as confused as ever, in the meantime I have sent a message to the lawyer in Pattaya who wrote the willl seeking clarification.

I will keep you posted on the conclusion.

After checking with the lawyer it is confirmed that it must go through a court procedure , no doubt a long and probably expensive undertaking. It doesn't seem to matter that it decreases the value of the bequest and as usual the lawyers get their pockets lined. Maybe we should go back to keeping it under the mattress as the banks give almost zero percent interest.

 

One just cannot win it seems.

 

 

Should be approx 6000 baht legal fee plus court expense

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Suggest you get 2/3 WRITTEN quotes from lawyers b4 you make any move

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why didn't you know the pin number of the account and just use the ATM card to get the money ,much easier.