Thread: What if I die?

What happens if I die?

Does my missus get my belongings?

I have told my folks at that if I cark is to any money I have to her from the UK.

But what happens with my Thai money. I don't have that much in my bank here never really manages to get past the 100k mark but I don't want it being eaten up by the government.

What about my bike how can she sell that to get the money from it since it is in my name.

Or god forbid fingers crossed and all that I have a bike accident how can she claim the money back from the accident - the bike has fully comp insurance on it.

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

What happens if I die?

Does my missus get my belongings?

I have told my folks at that if I cark is to any money I have to her from the UK.

But what happens with my Thai money. I don't have that much in my bank here never really manages to get past the 100k mark but I don't want it being eaten up by the government.

What about my bike how can she sell that to get the money from it since it is in my name.

Or god forbid fingers crossed and all that I have a bike accident how can she claim the money back from the accident - the bike has fully comp insurance on it.

I'm shocked that no-one has replied to this thread.
Top post MrsQ.
Surely any of us who are staying here for along time must have had a similar thought at some stage.
I'm unaturally fixated by my own demise but in reality I'm not concerned that if I croak who gets what and indeed if everyone gets fukall.

But maybe it would be heartening to know the missus will get the money in my bank accounts over the govt.
Any clues on how this is done without getting too morbid?

Pretty much the same as set out in the other thread, depends on what's in the will. No will, then the CCC governs. I don't even know if Mr & Mrs. Q have registered their marriage at the amphur. As such, it is virtually impossible to answer the specifics set out in the post.

FYI - Thailand does not, currently, have inhertiance tax - one of the few good things about this place.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

I disagree.
There's a massive difference between property and asset settlements if the spouse should die and what happens if I should die.

I would like my missus to get her grubby lil fingers on what little I have before the Govt slurps it up.
Whereas should she be unfortunate, I'd expect nothing.

Originally Posted by poolcleaner

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

I disagree.
There's a massive difference between property and asset settlements if the spouse should die and what happens if I should die.

I would like my missus to get her grubby lil fingers on what little I have before the Govt slurps it up.
Whereas should she be unfortunate, I'd expect nothing.

I'll go with the lawyer's interpretation.

It is something I worry about. I cannot believe that a will will stop the goevernment getting its hands on my stuff.

I have been told that a will written in Thailand is worded very differently to a will written in the UK is this true?

Does it have to be in Thai to be a legal document or can I have it in English.

If I post a copy of my will to my family to deal with upon my death will it apply to Thailand or only the UK.

Why would the government get its hands on your property? There is no death tax in Thailand!

Originally Posted by William

Why would the government get its hands on your property? There is no death tax in Thailand!

Who gets my TV, Mercedes, yacht, My 6 massage parlours, my bank accounts, my fish sauce factory when Somchai the crazy tuktuker stabs me to death?
Considering I don't have a will!

OK - so you die without having executed a will.

Now we need to look at the Civil and Commercial Code (CCC) of Thailand. Under Section 1603,

"an estate devloves on the heirs by statutory right or by will. Heirs who are so entitled by law are called "statutory heirs", heirs who are so entitled by will are called "legatees"."

However, we have no will, so we need to see who the Statutory Heirs are.

For this, we need to turn to Section 1629 of the CCC, which specifies that there are 6 classes of Statutiry Heirs, who are entitled to inherit in the following order:
(1) offspring
(2) parents
(3) brothers and sisters of full blood
(4) brothers and sisters of half blood
(5) grandparents
(6) uncles and aunts.

However, a surviving spouse (if legally married at the Amphur) is also a Statutory Heir; provided that, in the event that:
(1) there are any offspring of the deceased, the spouse and offspring shall inherit 50/50
(2) there are any surviving parents, the spouse and parents share 50/50
(3) there are any surviving brothers and sisters of full-blood, they share 50/50
(4) there are any grandparents or aunts and uncles, the surviving spouse inherits 2/3rds to their 1/3rd.

So, in effect, if you die without a will, your children have the stongest claim, followed by your parents, followed by your surviving spouse and brothers and sisters.

However, if you have no surviving children, parents, or brothers and sisters, the missus will get the lot (unless you have surviving grandparent/auts/uncles, in which case she'll get 2/3rds.).

And the way to avoid all this, have a will...

~W~

Thanks william.
Did I mention that I'm not married?

Bloody half-breds

Originally Posted by William

Bloody half-breds

But more importantly, isn't this going to be the case for the majority of the farang in Thailand?
I'd hate to think that if Chang were to fall of his perch that his latest 20 yo G/F will miss out on her cut because she doesn't know his pin no.!

Yeah, but given the restrictive ownership laws here, how many farangs do you know that own anything of real value in Thailand?

In most cases, such as mine, farangs are more concerned with what happens if she dies. Because I'll be f*cked if I'm dealing with her family

Originally Posted by William

Yeah, but given the restrictive ownership laws here, how many farangs do you know that own anything of real value in Thailand?

In most cases, such as mine, farangs are more concerned with what happens if she dies. Because I'll be f*cked if I'm dealing with her family

My camera, TV, computer, porno collection not to mention bank accounts.
I'd be interested what willhappen to all that when I go.
It might be sooner rather than later you know?

What about the ring on your finger, Pooly?

Originally Posted by Goddess of Whatever

What about the ring on your finger, Pooly?

I use that to keep the vampires away!

Ohh.. it works!

I'm away now.

So are wills worded differently here?

Or just a standard I bequeth this to my missus type of will?

No wills need to comply with the provisions of the CCC.

I have a will in English, written to comply with US laws. How would a Thai magistrate treat that in lieu of a Thai will? Would it be best to have my English will translated to Thai -- or start from scratch?

(I suspect my wife and I will have new wills drawn up together)

Either:

Section 1667 of the Civil and Commercial Code provides:

"In the event of a Thai subject making his will in a foreign territory, such will may be made either according to the form prescribed by the law of the country where it is made or according to the form prescribed by Thai law."

However, in the event you select to make the will in accordance with Thai law, there are a number of issues you should be aware of, such as how the will can be created to be a legally binding document. All of these can be found within the Civil and Commercial Code, Title II: Wills, Sections 1646 - 1755, inclusive.

Sorry, on the issue of language, an English language document is fine; however, when the document is submitted to the court a translation of the document will need to be submitted too.

Also, if you have both a Thai language version and English language version of the will, Section 14 of the CCC states:

" Whenever a document is executed in two versions, one in the Thai language and the other in another language, and there are discrepancies between the two versions, and it cannot be ascertained whicvh version was intended to govern, the document executed in Thai will govern."

To avoid this, either only have an English language version of the executed document, with Thai translation, or have a governing language clause in the document stating that in the event of any discrepancies, the English language document will prevail. Of course, you would need to check that the Thai language version doesn't say that the Thai language version prevails