Transcript of the above video:

We have talked a fair bit recently about Thai Wills. There is one aspect of Thai Wills and Estates, Estate planning, so-called probate in an American context or Anglo context, Succession in the Civil Law context, the way the Thais refer to what we call probate in the Common Law tradition, there is something in Thailand that is really different than in a Common Law context.

It is possible to lodge a Will with a Civil Registrar Office, an Amphur out in the provinces or here in Bangkok it is called the Khet Office, but the Civil Registrar Office. It may be possible to lodge one's Will in the Office. They basically seal it up and they put it on file and if something happens, it can be unsealed and presented to the Court and it kind of creates in a way sort of almost a chain of custody for the document. Now there could be a lot of issues with these things. I am not going to go too deep into this. To be clear, I am an American, I am an American Attorney. I am a Thai citizen but I am not a Thai Attorney so I am kind of providing this for informational purposes. This has been vetted by our Thai Attorneys, I am not providing any inaccurate information but it is just for general use. There can be some issues in lodging a Thai Will that way because you can change your mind later and it can create conflicts with a later document that is drafted with the document that is on file. It kind of creates a kind of permanence to it and if you want to change it, you have got to go through a process of getting it sort of dislodged from the Civil Registrar Office. 

So depending on circumstances, it may or may not be a good technique for a foreigner to undertake when doing Estate planning here in Thailand. For those who find this a bit overwhelming, it may not be a bad idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.