Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Wills specifically in the context of foreign assets. What are we talking about here? Well we get a lot of calls from folks that say, hey look, especially retirees and some of the older folks, older expats, they are the most concerned about estate planning. Frankly folks in their twenties could care less oftentimes. That's not necessarily the best idea to have but it is just the way of the world. In any event, these are folks that often times have built up some level of wealth back in their home country, but they may have a loved one or family here or just have assets here in Thailand, that they may want to leave back to loved ones in their home country and so they need some kind of estate planning including Will drafting here in Thailand. And they often ask me, "well what about my assets back home?" well ask me and ask the Thai legal staff as well. Long story short, it depends. 

So some assets are more conducive to what I would call sort of an international multi-jurisdictional Will where you can have sort of a one catch-all Will; there are certain instances where maybe two Wills are going to be optimal, where a Will for the home country jurisdiction if you will, home country place where the person hails from country if you will, where a Will from that jurisdiction along with a Thai Will may be optimal; it depends. It depends on the nature of the property. Real estate for one thing, genuinely in my opinion, should be treated differently when you are talking about Estate planning and drafting Thai Wills. Financial instruments, banking instruments and things, different again; maybe more conducive to a one size fits all sort of catch-all Will. Again the very nature of the Probate Estate, what we would call a Probate Estate in the Common Law vernacular, is going to dictate how the estate planning process is best carried out including the Will drafting process. 

So the thing to take away from this video is understand that there are multiple options for dealing with Wills here in Thailand. If you have assets in a foreign jurisdiction outside of Thailand, it may be beneficial to have a separate Will; it may be beneficial to have a single Will that deals with both jurisdictions. Again it's going to depend on the specific facts in the underlying case. I can also understand there are issues that involve post-passing concerns, basically okay, I passed away I need my foreign partner who may not necessarily speak fluent English or another language, where foreign assets may be located. What do I do with that? Oftentimes having a law firm that has foreign legal personnel involved is a good idea because those folks can go ahead and assist your loved one in the event of your passing in dealing with processing through documentation and processing things through the Courts, through the legal system in that foreign country, and processing it in such a way that it is not a hardship on your Thai loved one.