trubrit wrote:You've just got to believe this. :-" A husband of a friend recently died in the hospital in Khon Kaen .A hospital mini bus wanted 10k to transport his body back to Udon, however a kind nurse suggested that an ambulance bus, the same one? :-" would only cost 4k. So the body accompanied by the nurse was wheeled out complete with an oxygen respirator mask, placed in the bus and taken as a live patient . The nurse refused the proffered 1k tip .TIT

Back in the States I managed funeral homes and cemeteries for 13 years before retirement. A body can be released to the legal next of kin from the hospital once the death certificate has been signed off on by the doctor. An ambulance bus may be a more respectful way to transport a body to its final city of destination, but if worse comes to worse, it's perfectly legal to put a body in the back seat of a car and drive it back home if finances become a problem. I'm sure if you check with hospital staff here they will tell you the same thing unless they prefer to make extra money off of you in which case you will not get the entire truth.

my old man has weeks, maybe days to go before he kicks the bucket from the Big C, and I have been waste high in legal matters..Mainly because the picture keeps changing.. Both Ma and Da had Wills done in 1999, and then revamped in 2009..if Da went first everything went to Ma, and vice versa..ok sweet..I am the trustee of the wills...both my parents fell and broke their hips and the slide set in..last year Ma started going alittle bonkers in the head, so the matter of Enduring Power of Attorney came to the forefront...chatted with Da about it, but being a stubborn man he did nothing about it. I think we broached the topic five times, even paid a visit to his lawyer to enquire what it entails, but no Dad sat on the fence. Ma started getting worse, having invisable friends and all..finally Dad decided when he knew he couldnt manage by himself so to speak, to go for the Power of Attorney, thing was now the lawyer wanted a medical opinion as to whether Ma knew what she would be signing re Power of Attorney..couple of days before Xmas the lawyer gives me Power of Attorney from Dad, but not for mum..now what, how do I organise her health and well being when dad looks like he is going to pop off any day now..I suggested to the lawyer that we would have to change dad will, because he left everything to Ma, the house the saving the whole ruddy lot..Da wont be coming home, I cant manage anymore with the two of them , so a retirement home with hospital care is where he will go come monday, but thats a $4000NZ a month.. I dont have that, cant get money off mum when dad dies to pay for her care..things were snowballing...the lawyer hmmm and haaaaa on it, but it was Xmas and he was off until 16th january...if everything went to Ma the family would have to contest matters in court, which is expensive..it came down to me to make the Executive decision type up a new will for dad, which would leave his share of the house to the family, so they could stop the government taking it later to pay for mums retirement home care..I had to move quick because dad is just about Non compus mentus..the lawyer is alway, I needed two witnesses to sign the will and a doctor to say dad was good enough to sign as, and that happened today....moral of the story is that you can have a will and everything set in stone, but if you loose your marbles, someone else steps in to manage your affairs, unless you have someone to manage your affairs via enduring power of attorney, and attend to your wishes...we all think we will die in a nice easy way, but hell it can get complicated, so a buddy, a family member needs to be on the ball to get things as you want them to be, should you go into a coma, or go silly in the head for months, and yuou no longer can give instructions..

You know this is timely for me I try to do an annual review make sure I have everything needed in the envelope. Things do change and you do need to review my goal is once a year. Sorry for your troubles it a real nightmare, for those left holding the ball. If things are not up to date

bumper wrote:The person who gets the monthly money.

Your theory on the banks sounds good. But, thus far I have not seen a widow who didn't have a problem with that.

My wife has been told to get the ATM card and empty that puppy.

Users results can vary this Thailand what they say and what they do can often be two different things.

My stepdaughter is my sole heir in Thailand.I told her the same,If I die,before notifying anyone,take the bank book and the ATM card and empty the accounts!

I agree with maaka that one cannot predict the future of our health or the manner in which we may die (in most cases) when we are preparing a Last Will. Some may be given a "heads-up if terminally ill or, some other immediate life-threatening condition. But for most of us we only think in terms of a quick and quiet death (fatal heart attack or embolism to lung or brain or, for many expats here, motorcycle and /or car accident). Having worked in health care for over 30 years, I have wittiness many variations of death in terms of manner and time. Therefore, we need to be flexible when preparing for our demise and keep a number of scenarios in mind when preparing a will (to include a living will comes to mind). We can only hope for a quiet and quick death but as we all know fate can drop a bucket of ---- on our heads at any time. My hope is that I have enough warning so I can give my lady the PIN number to the ATM accounts so as stated in a post here, "empty that puppy" before the legal hounds come knocking at my door.

My only asset is my bank accounts, otherwise I am single and own nothing. I am not secure enough in my relationship now, or anytime in the near future, to give out the PIN number to my accounts. Too many sad stories of expats getting their accounts drained and assets sold off when in loving and trusting relationships, both long and short term . But I agree with advice here which is; upon my death, "take the money and run" before the "powers that be" get their hands on it. I do not trust the banks to turn the money over to my lady because that is my wish in my will.

nkstan wrote:
]My stepdaughter is my sole heir in Thailand.I told her the same,If I die,before notifying anyone,take the bank book and the ATM card and empty the accounts!

Stan's post raises a virtual legal minefield for the unwary where the natural children of an ex wife is concerned. A step child is only related to you by virtue of marriage to the parent. If that marriage is terminated by divorce the 'step' is also broken. The child has no legal connection to you unless you proceed with a full adoption. Therefore even if you will your assets to it ,any 'natural' heirs, children or grandchildren could, if aware and so minded, contest the inheritance.Even why your bank account was emptied after your death.

trubrit wrote:Even why your bank account was emptied after your death.

Hi Trubrit
As you are probably aware it is a criminal offence to use an ATM card of a deceased person (UK Law)
I would think the same applies in Thailand or maybe you can correct me.

lepidoptra wrote:

trubrit wrote:Even why your bank account was emptied after your death.

Hi Trubrit
As you are probably aware it is a criminal offence to use an ATM card of a deceased person (UK Law)
I would think the same applies in Thailand or maybe you can correct me.

Quite correct, as I said , a virtual legal minefield. I was only addressing the family inheritance side but as you point out there are laws being broken that could involve criminal action be taken . Not a nice legacy to inherit .

Different countries have different rules. This is for the information of UK citizens.

JimboPSM wrote:To try and avoid international border problems and hopefully keep things as simple as possible, I have arranged for the disposition of my assets according to their location.

In broad terms:
• All my UK assets are to be disposed of in the UK.
• All my Thailand assets are to be disposed of in Thailand.

I have recently finally completed sorting out the 'Will' of a British friend who died in Udon three years ago. I encountered no problems here in Thailand, with the few assets that were in his name quickly being transferred to his wife. The problem arose in the UK because his will stated that "All my several assets in Thailand shall be to my wife (name) without condition". In order to access his UK bank assets, the bank requires copy of the legal 'Probate' of the will. Probate cannot be completed without a certificate that all relevant taxes have been paid on the estate of the deceased. Under UK law a person's estate includes world wide assets (unless they are legally Non-domiciled as opposed to non-resident), and as he had referred to his 'assets in Thailand' in his will, the UK treasury wanted these included in his estate for tax purposes. On behalf of his widow I had to produce endless papers showing that everything in Thailand was hers anyway ie that his quoted "All my several assets" amounted to nothing.

Following this experience, I have made two separate wills, which are definitely NOT cross referenced.

Bonanza wrote:Different countries have different rules. This is for the information of UK citizens.

JimboPSM wrote:To try and avoid international border problems and hopefully keep things as simple as possible, I have arranged for the disposition of my assets according to their location.

In broad terms:
• All my UK assets are to be disposed of in the UK.
• All my Thailand assets are to be disposed of in Thailand.

I have recently finally completed sorting out the 'Will' of a British friend who died in Udon three years ago. I encountered no problems here in Thailand, with the few assets that were in his name quickly being transferred to his wife. The problem arose in the UK because his will stated that "All my several assets in Thailand shall be to my wife (name) without condition". In order to access his UK bank assets, the bank requires copy of the legal 'Probate' of the will. Probate cannot be completed without a certificate that all relevant taxes have been paid on the estate of the deceased. Under UK law a person's estate includes world wide assets (unless they are legally Non-domiciled as opposed to non-resident), and as he had referred to his 'assets in Thailand' in his will, the UK treasury wanted these included in his estate for tax purposes. On behalf of his widow I had to produce endless papers showing that everything in Thailand was hers anyway ie that his quoted "All my several assets" amounted to nothing.

Following this experience, I have made two separate wills, which are definitely NOT cross referenced.

Bonanza, when you say you had no difficulties settling the Thai estate, does that mean that you were able to go directly to the source of the asset to be inherited and transfer it to the widow, or did you actually have to go to a local court and have the Will probated? I was told by the manager of my Thai bank that if I passed away my wife could walk in the bank with my Last Will and a Death Certificate and claim the money in my bank accounts.

Also 3 years ago i sorted out a friends banks , debts , belonging's etc , he died in Thailand no will,( what a cluster fck ,) i tried to cancel his bank accounts Uk , debit cards etc ,only to be met with " if your not the account holder you cannot freeze the account" even when i explain he'd died , some one was using his card's ,( ha friends ) 5 accounts some we did not know about ,in debt, . finally got the works pension for his wife here ,,,(they were very good ) but the BANK's bollocks , they eventually came back to me personally , ( must add i did everything in his wife's name as to stay anon )how they found me ??? to ask for my help in finalising everything ,i gave them the same they gave me , fck all ,bit of advise copy the death cert on a lazer printer , they dont know what's genuine , so you can deal with all gov & pensions at the same time , they all request original death cert ,hope this helps ,,,it took me 18 months to sort it all out ,

Interesting post from way back and got me thinking cap on now on a couple of fronts.
My death insurances are designated but my bank accounts are spread over 3 countries. My home country of aussie, not much there for non residency status, Singapore accounts has the bulk in 3 currencies, and naturally Thailand with personal and joint accounts. Not much in Thailand though as only use 30 day visa exempt for the past 3 years. Could be a nightmare for a Thai lady with no wedding ring on the finger sorting this all out, I should get my head around this and do something as I want my thai girl to have first crack.

But the big one is what if SHE goes first, mmmm, better get her ATM number so I can rush down and hit the payout button and hopefully the 3 cherries come up , as there's a bit of cash there at the moment waiting to build the house.

A hint for Aussies with superannuation/pension accounts in Australia.

My understanding (and I have structured accordingly) is that super/pension payouts from your estate to non-dependents eg grown-up kids, are taxable in their hands.

However, a payout to a dependent eg a Thai wife/kids, is tax free.

If you are in this situation, may well be worth getting professional advice.

To clarify the above - I am talking about lump sum payouts.

semperfiguy wrote: Bonanza, when you say you had no difficulties settling the Thai estate, does that mean that you were able to go directly to the source of the asset to be inherited and transfer it to the widow, or did you actually have to go to a local court and have the Will probated? I was told by the manager of my Thai bank that if I passed away my wife could walk in the bank with my Last Will and a Death Certificate and claim the money in my bank accounts.

Correct - Kasikorn bank accepted copy of Death Certificate and copy of Marriage Certificate endorsed by British Embassy (plus her Thai ID card), all sorted in no time!