Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Wills and Foreign Wills. For purposes of this video, just to be clear we are talking about Thai Wills being a probate instrument or testamentary instrument used in what are called succession proceedings here in Thailand but we would call them probate in the West versus for example a foreign will. In this case, I will primarily do this from the standpoint of America so American Wills. This analysis, I am going to keep it broad but this analysis really could be applied to anyone in an international context. Again it is going to depend on your country of origin, country where your other assets might be located.

Long story short, I get this question fairly frequently and we always have the Thai Attorneys here on staff dealing with the Thai Wills, putting together the Thai Wills. Then we have got me, I often times assist in testamentary instruments in an American context or we may liaise with overseas Attorneys depending on the jurisdiction. Long story short, I get the question: "Well are they mutually exclusive? How do you deal with them?" It depends on your circumstances. I know folks that watch this channel rather frequently, I am a broken record with that but it really does. Depending on the circumstances, you may want to have two different Wills; one for your assets in another jurisdiction, one for Thailand. Under certain circumstances we find what I call a unified Will is often better. You may have a few things in another country, you mention that in a Thai Will and you deal with it, it gets dealt with accordingly through the probate process. 

Another thing to think about are what is called no-probate transactions, non-probate instruments; things like payable on death accounts, certain things involving Insurance may not actually go through what we would call probate or what they call succession here in Thailand with respect to determining the net worth of an estate and divvying it up etc. 

Long story short, again it is going to depend very specifically on your specific circumstances; how exactly you structure your estate in the event of your passing; how you deal with Wills in that context. It might not be a terrible idea if this is a major concern to you, it might not be a terrible idea to go ahead and contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.