Transcript of the above video: 

Not trying to be macabre in this video, but it is an issue that sometimes comes up, what happens if an American passes away in Thailand. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Elderly American man with financial worries falls to death in Pattaya. Quite a sad story frankly. I urge those who are watching this video, if you're interested in that, go check out that article in Bangkok Post. But this one small excerpt I thought was warranted for a data point to create a teaching point if nothing else. Quoting directly: "Police said they would notify the United States Embassy and send the body for examination at Police General Hospital."

Yeah, look when a foreign national passes away here in Thailand, one of the first things Thai Authorities do is ascertain their nationality, and if they are an American, they immediately inform the Embassy. This is actually one thing that over the years I have witnessed folks who work for the Embassy doing their job, and this is one thing the Embassy goes out of their way to do assiduously well is to deal with Americans who pass away out here, and they get on it with a great deal of alacrity. They go ahead and liaise with wherever the body is at; they go ahead and liaise with loved ones oftentimes back in the United States on what can be done about that. We often will come into this process where we are dealing with matters pertaining to Wills and Estates here in Thailand oftentimes where for example if we are talking about an American passing away here, they get in touch with us to go ahead and have the Will probated or what is called put through succession proceedings through the Thai Courts. Oftentimes this comes up in the context of somebody having a condo or a bank account here in Thailand that they want to convey, bequeath through a Will to loved ones and in this case, we are talking about it from the standpoint of an American passing away. 

But the point I wanted to make with regard to this video, there are what is called Consular Reports of Death Abroad that are issued by the Embassy that operate as the equivalent of an American Death Certificate for usage in American proceedings and for American purposes. There is also going to be a Thai Death Certificate that is going to be issued as well. 

Again, one thing I do have to tip my hat to the Embassy on - there's a lot of things they do well - but they really do go out of their way to really handle that and they act with a great deal of alacrity in dealing with Americans who have passed away here in the Kingdom of Thailand.