Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing inheritance of Thai property and many of the common legal pitfalls associated therewith.

One of the biggest legal pitfalls frankly associated with possible inheritance of Thai property is the lack of a Will itself. Those who do not fill out a Will, it's going to make things intensely more difficult on one’s surviving heirs to collect any type of benefits, intended or otherwise. So if you do have folks that you want to leave something to, it is a very good idea to draft a formalized Will with a Thai Attorney that basically lays out exactly how you want your estate to be divided up. These aren't things people really want to think about, but they are there. One thing I often see in the sort of the ether of the internet that people talk about is a Holographic Will, or a handwritten Will. "Oh, you can just do a handwritten Will; that will work." Well yeah in theory. Yes, there are laws in Thailand that say yes a holographic will is usable but as a the practical matter, you want to go ahead and have a properly formalized Will so that; at the end of the day, when dealing with any kind of legal proceeding - be it what we call Probate in the Common Law vernacular, what is called succession in the Thai legal vernacular, you don't want judges having to have ambiguity; you don't want them having to think creatively. What you prefer is that things be clearly formalized per the law, laid out in front of them so they can quickly say, "okay, yes we will go ahead; that proceeds," boom. And it gets the stamp on it; you get it down the line so that you can go open the bank account and get the money out that you need to. You can go transfer the title to the property you need to; you can go transfer the title to a vehicle that you need to in a fairly efficient, straightforward manner. So one of the big pitfalls is trying to do it yourself with regard to these kind of instruments; another one is not having an instrument at all. 

Another couple of things that people often presume is they presume certain Common Law structures and legal principles will apply in Thailand, most notably Trust. So for example, Trusts are not recognized under Thai law; there isn't equity. As I have discussed in many other videos, there isn't a notion of equity in sort of the Thai legal framework, the legal paradigm of Thai law, I should say in the same way that there is in the Common Law vernacular. So Trust instruments, Trust structures just don't exist here. So to think of that and to think that that might apply in the same way here in this jurisdiction as it would in other places, that is another major pitfall. Another thing to think about is a lot of people presume that because they are a foreigner, they can't necessarily inherit things like land from their Thai partner. Again, there are restrictions on foreigners being able to inherit, but there is not a complete preclusion. So long as adherence to Thai Law is maintained, a foreigner under certain circumstances can gain benefit through inheritance of certain types of real estate. 

Now again, this is all going to be driven by the specific facts in an underlying case, so it is probably not a bad idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.