Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well we're discussing Wills and Estates here in Thailand, specifically Will drafting and the difference between Executors and Beneficiaries. 

So, we all sort of know, the heirs in a Will, the people who are written into the Will, the testamentary instrument as the heirs. Basically, hey I have a house, I'm giving it to so and so in my Will; we all get that. Then you have Executors. Now they may be the same people as the Beneficiary which I'll get into here in a minute, or they may be different. The function of the Executor is to execute the actual Will, execute the intentions of the person who wrote the Will; that's basically the purpose of the Executor. So that is their function. 

Now the thing to take away from this video, a big thing to take away from this video, when it comes to Thai Wills, there are scenarios where the Beneficiary and Executor might want to be the same person. It might be of benefit if they are both, if you name your Beneficiary as an Executor as well. Again, it depends on the context, and it depends on the intentions of the person writing the Will. But in a lot of cases that we deal with - especially of husbands and wives where it's primarily the husband that wants a Will in favour of his wife - yeah, under those circumstances, in most cases and I'm not saying all, but in most cases we tend to like to see or it tends to be more convenient if you name that Beneficiary also as an Executor because under those circumstances then, when it gets into Court, that person will be able to be named Executor pretty quickly, and then be able to start moving things around in the estate. That's the point is if they are the same, if one person is filling both roles - they're both the Beneficiary and the Executor - they can basically move their own property around that much quicker. 

Now that being said, again, depending on the context of the estate, depending on the underlying facts of the estate, depending on the intentions of the person drafting the Will, they may not be the same person. It may be determined that a separate Executor should be administering the estate and the Beneficiary just purely benefits. Again, it's going to be based on the prerogatives of the person who's drafting their own Will and again the nature of their property and the nature of their estate. 

But that said, they are two very separate functions. One is just sort of almost a recipient, while the Executor has a very pronounced or defined administrative function insofar as they go ahead and assist in distribution of assets and make sure the Beneficiaries get what they are supposed to get. That said, under the circumstances where it's a very sort of straightforward kind of narrow Will for lack of a better term, and there's basically one Beneficiary, there may be, I stress may be, and again facts in the case are going to drive the analysis, but there may be some benefit in having that person being named as both the Beneficiary as well as the Executor here in the Kingdom of Thailand.