Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about Will drafting in 2026. Now there is really not going to be anything that I can see with the calendar changing over that's going to fundamentally change the dynamics of drafting a Will in 2026.

That said, this video is not some exercise in being disingenuous or something, I like to take an opportunity every now and again to discuss the sort of fundamentals of these given issues because I talk a lot of specifics and I talk a lot of hyper-nuanced analysis on these topics on an ongoing basis and sometimes I do forget that new people to the channel haven't watched all my videos over the years, and frankly anybody that has watched all my videos, I feel sorry for you, because there are 8,300 of them at this point that I have made in nearly 10 years we have been doing, so most folks haven't seen them all. But I sort of always make the presumption after I have made a video, that I'm kind of done with that issue for a while. And then I have to remind myself that, "hey, you have got to keep making those videos because new people are coming along that aren't aware of things." So the reason for this video is to just go through the sort of generalities if you will, associated with both Estate planning and Will drafting here in Thailand.

For those who have property here in Thailand, especially retirees, if you've got a condo, if you've got a bank account or more than one bank account or any other assets, and you don't have a Will in Thailand, it's probably a good idea to have one. Why? Because if you do have loved ones or people you specifically want to leave bequests to, by having a Will, it's going to greatly expedite the process of getting that done in the event of your passing. So again, the Will process hasn't really changed much in any of the time that I've been here, but basically it comes down to this. You pass away, we take a copy of your Will, we take it down to the Court; we begin processing it through the Court to have a final judgment issued with respect to issuance of information pertaining to the Executor and Beneficiaries that the Court is ordering be made right if you will under the Will, that they essentially have their funds or their property dispersed by the Executor - and the Executor and the Beneficiary could be the same person -basically have those dispersed pursuant to the Will. The process of going through the Court hasn't changed very much. 

The point of this video is for those out there who may have property in Thailand and think, "hey I've got a Will in the US, or outside of Thailand, somewhere, the UK, Australia, Europe whatever, that may or may not cover you here in Thailand. The formalities of Thai Will drafting are different than other jurisdictions and you need to be certain that you are in line with the formalities in this jurisdiction in order to be certain that a Will can be processed efficiently through the Courts in this jurisdiction. 

The other thing to understand is, the Wills that we draft will be in Thai and English for our English-speaking clients. We basically inter-lineate; it is basically one line in one language; another line is another. If you have a foreign Will and you're attempting to get it for lack of a better term, “probated” - but that's a Common Law vernacular term, it's not quite right for Thailand, but okay well we'll use it conceptually - get it processed through the Courts, there are issues associated with it being in a foreign language not least of which is having it translated. Where you already have a Will that's in the Thai language, you are saving yourself a lot of time and energy, or I should say, your heirs and the Executors and the Administrators, time and energy that could otherwise be spent getting the Estate dispersed and resolved. Again different facts in different cases are going to drive different analysis, but the thing to take away from this video is I don't see much changing with regard to the process of drafting a Will, in 2026, here in the Kingdom of Thailand.