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What Is a Statutory Heir in Thailand?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing statutory heirs in Thailand.

We are discussing this in the context of what in the common law parlance we would call probate which is the execution of estate matters in Thailand. In the Thai System or the Civil Law System, specifically the Thai Civil Law System, we call this succession. To quote directly from the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, this is specifically from section 1603 of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, quoting directly: "An estate devolves on the heirs by Statutory right or by Will. Heirs who are so entitled by law are called Statutory Heirs.” There may be law pertaining to a given heir that if there is absence, especially in absence of a Will, the property may go to that heir. That heir is specifically called a Statutory Heir as opposed to someone who gains heirship by rights under a Will which that person is called a Legatee and I will get into that in a video made contemporaneously with this one. 

Let me be clear I am not a Thai Attorney, I am not a licensed Thai Attorney here in Thailand. We have Thai Attorneys here on staff; they have vetted this video. I am providing this video for explanatory purposes, it is simply to provide extremely basic information. You should not be using this to make decisions regarding or pertaining to actual succession or estate planning. It is just for basic information. 

Long story short, in absence of a Will you are going to have these Statutory Heirs. They could be very different from what folks in their home country especially coming from the context of foreigners, Americans, UK, common law jurisdiction, even Europe, what you would expect in a situation with intestate succession in those jurisdictions, it may be very different here in Thailand. So again this may be a reason why you may want a Will although some folks may consult a lawyer to find out what the statutory heirs are going to be and they just say "no I am okay with that" and they just they just let it go from there.