Family & Succession

Wills & Estate Planning

Thai-law wills, including for foreign nationals holding assets here — written so the people you intend to provide for can actually receive what you leave.

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Tell us the situation and we will tell you what we think you should do — and what it will cost.

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Foreign nationals with property, accounts or a company in Thailand
Thai residents wanting their wishes recorded properly
Couples in second marriages or blended families
Business owners whose shares would otherwise freeze on death

Thai wills covering Thai assets, in the statutory form

Bilingual wills so the testator reads what the will actually says

Coordinating a Thai will with a will made in another country

Appointing an executor, and a guardian for minor children

Planning around the limits on foreign ownership of land

Reviewing and updating a will after marriage, birth or a major purchase

Map the assets in Thailand and elsewhere, and who is to receive them
Identify the legal limits that affect the plan
Choose the will form and the executor
Draft in Thai, with a language version the testator reads
Arrange the signing with witnesses, correctly
Store the will and tell the family where it is

Documents to prepare

Passport or ID card and, if married, the marriage certificate
A list of assets in Thailand — property, accounts, vehicles, shares
Title deeds and company documents for those assets
The names and details of the intended beneficiaries
Any existing will, here or abroad

It may be valid, but using it in Thailand means legalisation, certified translation and a Thai court that has to interpret a document written for another legal system — months of delay for the family, at the worst possible time. A short separate Thai will covering only your Thai assets, drafted so the two do not revoke each other, avoids nearly all of that.

The statutory order of heirs applies — classes of relatives in a fixed order, with the surviving spouse taking a share that varies by which class inherits alongside. That order takes no account of your intentions, an unmarried partner, or which child cared for you. Where the outcome would not be what you want, the will is the only instrument that changes it.

A foreigner may inherit as an heir but generally cannot hold land outright, and is typically required to dispose of it within a set period. There are lawful ways to provide for a foreign spouse — a condominium within the foreign quota, a registered right of habitation or usufruct, the proceeds of sale, or a structure decided in advance. What does not work is leaving the problem to be discovered by the family later.

The statutory forms have strict requirements — the common form needs the testator’s signature before two witnesses present at the same time, with the witnesses signing too, and a beneficiary must not be a witness. Most wills that fail in Thailand fail on these formalities rather than on their contents, which is why the signing is arranged rather than left to the family.

After any change in the family or the assets — marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a property purchase, a company restructure. A will that names an asset sold five years ago and omits the one bought since is a will that will be argued about. FEE_STRUCTURE

Lawyers for this matter

Generation 1