Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Wills for folks here in Thailand. I didn't really think it was warranted to make one video about each of these. What you may see is later on my producer may create shorts, like one or more off this one video. But three sort of issues that I see come up, especially in the context of American expats who are looking at Wills over here in Thailand, there are sort of three issues.

One is American assets, so I've got assets in the United States, what do I do? Do I need two Wills? Do I need a specific type of Will? Do I need to be cognizant of anything special I should set up? Trusts etc.? The analysis of that, again, I don't mean to sound like a broken record, it will depend on the underlying facts in a given case, but more to the point it's also going to be very dependent on the facts of a given case. In certain circumstances, we'll get guys that contact us about their Estate Planning and they'll explain to me their situation. And I'll say, "yeah you definitely need two Wills, or you definitely need only one Will in this jurisdiction, or only one in this jurisdiction based on your situation." There are some situations that if it was a Venn diagram, sort of sit on the line or in a certain overlap zone, where you need to make narrowly tailored legal analysis in order to basically service their needs if you will, and that is I think an important point to be aware of when basically doing the estate planning with regard to the assets. 

Then you get over into issues associated with veterans' issues and there are certain things that pertain to veterans that are just unique to veterans. For example Tricare has different ramifications. I see it more in a divorce context than I see with regard to necessarily estate planning but there's certain VA benefits and things that you need to be especially cognizant of with regard to veterans. 

And then on top of that, Social Security comes up because depending on the underlying facts in the case, again the nature of the couples' relationship, the length of it, physical presence in the United States as opposed to Thailand or elsewhere, and if in a third country or in Thailand, the status and the job status that one was in during that time period can dictate analysis regarding possible Social Security benefits associated with a Thai spouse here in Thailand. 

All of that kind of comes together in basically me stating that if you are looking specifically to really niche issues associated with American assets, basically Social Security issues specific or even veterans issues specific, in the context of the state planning or drafting a Thai Will, it is probably not a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.