Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Usufructs in Thailand. For those who are unaware, this is a usage agreement, a usage instrument if you will associated with foreign nationals who are looking to enjoy the use of property in Thailand. Let me be clear, this is not ownership. A Usufruct does not mean you own the property. You can have a lifetime Usufruct which is akin to something like a Life Estate in the Common Law tradition for example back in the United States, something akin to like a life estate, you can use it for your lifetime, that property, that structure on that property, whatever it may be and you can get that for a lifetime and then basically just run out your born days using that property. We often see this in the context of married couples where somebody wants the rights to use the house. We will sometimes see this in just pure commercial transactions where it is somebody that just wants to use a given property for their lifetime and then when they are done, it reverts back to the owner. 

The point of this video though is timing and financing are key critical to Usufruct registration. We just had sort of a back and forth with the Thai Land Department in a case involving Usufruct, and this video has been reviewed by my Thai colleagues here in the office and they are very well aware of just how important the timing is because they have had to deal with it recently. The thing to take away from this video is understand the timing for paying for a underlying property if you want to get a Usufruct on it, this is especially the case in the sense of a married couple, you need to go ahead and deal with that in such a way that you make sure to comport with the relevant Thai regulations associated with issuance of Usufruct as failure to do so could result in being unable to perfect such an instrument.

If you are interested in Usufruct in Thailand, my best advice is to not do anything until you contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.