Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing I think Thai Wills. For those who are unaware, yeah it is possible to have a Will in Thailand, draft a Will in Thailand. It can be drafted in compliance with Thai Law. Generally speaking, we draft ours in Thai and English so as to have sort of full transliteration between the two languages within the four corners of the document. 

Meanwhile, the question posed in this video is what about Usufructs? For those who are aware Usufructs are sort of like, I look at them as akin to a life estate in the Common Law System wherein someone can basically use a given property or has effectively ownership in any meaningful sense but usage is probably the better word, usage of that property for life, unfettered usage for life. When they pass away, it reverts back to the underlying owner. It's kind of like a lifetime lease but it's not a lease strictly speaking in Thailand, it's a Usufruct. The question posed is can I leave my Usufruct to somebody in my Thai Will? Somebody asked me this the other day and it is good question and this person didn't fully understand the ramifications of Usufruct and then I explained, look the Usufruct is a lifetime usage instrument so if you have a Usufruct for example we see Usufructs in a lot of cases involving Thai spouses where someone's Thai spouse will have the ownership and then the foreign spouse will have a Usufruct so that they can use the property while they are alive; we see this quite frequently. I had somebody ask me well what happens when I die. Can I pass my Usufruct to somebody? No because the Usufruct is in your lifetime, that's what you are dealing with. It's your Usufruct. 

Now another question posed is what happens if the person who owns the property passes away, they have a Will and it goes to somebody else? Generally speaking, the answer to that is the Usufruct, if the person to whom the Usufruct has been given is alive and the person who owned the land has passed, that Usufruct remains. That right of use is still there, it exists, it is actually registered on the title deed. It exists notwithstanding the death of the underlying property owner. So again, that property owner may have bequeathed that property to somebody else and they may end up with the ownership, they still can't get the usage until the person who has the Usufruct, they themselves pass away. 

So the thing to take away from this video is one, Usufructs end at the time of death so Wills don't really have anything to do with them if you are the holder of a usufruct. If you are the holder of the land that is granted the Usufruct and you pass away, your heir may not be able to take real usage over of that land until the person who has the Usufruct, they themselves are gone.