HELP YOUR WIDOW NOW!
Widows have had their applications for federal benefits delayed too often due to missing documentation or documents that cannot be used. New widows arrive at the RAO with no record of their husband's military service or photocopies of DD-214s or World War II certificates that only show date of separation.
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HOW LONG CAN YOUR WIDOW GO WITHOUT FUNDS?
Is your spouse making payments on a home mortgage? How long will the landlord be willing to wait for his rent? Are there children in school with tuition payments? Does anyone in your Thai family need money to pay for a health problem? Have you considered how long you should provide funds or a source of funds for your survivors after the date of your death? Consider this:

• A military retiree's payments stop on the date of death.

• DVA payments stop on the death of the veteran.

• SSA payments are not made for the month of death.

• Is your widow expecting to receive a Department of Veterans Affairs annuity to live on? In the year 2007 the DVA took an average of 188 days to process a claim. Is the Beneficiary name current? If your former spouse is still named, she gets it. If your mother is still named and she passed away five years ago, there is a delay to establish the beneficiary to be paid.

• The payment of the first Survivor Benefit Plan check is promised to arrive within a month, a promise usually kept.

• What about private insurance payments? Commercial payment of death  insurance policy payment is no longer a matter of just presenting a death
   certificate. There are now required several pages of application forms and
   notarized documentation.

• What about joint bank accounts? It now takes more that just documenting  the death of one of the joint account holder. Banks now protect themselves
   with forms and requests for documentation, even with joint accounts with
   right of inheritance. If funds are in your single name account, it gets messy

• What about your will? Even with a Will, there will be an action in a Thai Court. You do not need to have a Will translated into Thai for it to be recognized by the court, HOWEVER, a court will need a translated copy of the will. Wouldn’t it be better to have the Will translated into Thai now, so that it can say what you wanted it to mean?

• A probate officer will be assigned by the court. Have you taken steps with a Thai attorney to minimize fraud from a court appointed Probate Office?

• What about your Will in the USA? Has it been updated?

On April this 2008 the DVA had 650,000 claims outstanding. Congress is aware of this situation and is proposing legislation to ensure timely delivery of compensation to families of survivors. When SSA was questioned on the delay of action on an application for a widow's claim for benefits, they repliedthat there would be delays and no follow up for another three months.
 

 A. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS NEEDED NOW!

• DD-214. You need a certified copy or original.

If you do not have this document certifying proof of military service, your
Widow can apply for a copy from the Military Records Center or United States
Air Force. Your RAO or VFW Service Officer can provide the form.

Both the Social Security Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs now require certified copies of military records that show dates of entry and separation from service. If you do not have the original DD-214 or other original documents of service with ink signatures or certified copies provided by the Military Records Center or United States Air Force with seals pressed into the page, SEND FOR THEM NOW!!!
             

• Thai Birth Certificate

If your widow was born during the years of Word War II, she will have  problems
finding a birth certificate that documents her date of birth. Without a Thai government Birth Certificate, the Social Security Administration will require three documents that are over five years old to prove date of birth. Both the Department of Defense and Thai-issued identification cards are seldom over four years old. A few widows have kept old I.D. cards or a passport that can be used. Thai marriage and house registrations are also a source of  documents that certify date of  birth. FIND THREE DOCUMENTS THAT ARE 5 YEARS OLD NOW!

This document was edited from an RAO document at JUSMAG.
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B. ESTATE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1.

A Farang buys a house in the village for himself, his Thai wife and his Thai stepson. Thailand law says a Farang can not own land, so he puts the house in his Thai wife’s name. The woman dies.

2.

Does the child own 100%, 50%, or zero % of the house?

Whether the wife left a Will or not, the house shares shall go to her statutory heirs. Though the husband is not part of the 6 classes of Statutory Heirs, the surviving spouse is , nevertheless, a statutory heir under Civil and Commercial Code Section 1635. Therefore, the husband gets 50% and the son gets 50%. (See Note 1).

The 6 classes of Statutory Heirs and their ranking of entitlement for distribution is in the following order:

• Descendants (son, daughter)
• Parents
• Brothers and sisters of full blood
• Brothers and sisters of half blood
• Grandfathers and Grandmothers
• Uncles and aunts.
• The surviving spouse is also a statutory heir, subject to the Civil and Commercial Code Section 1635. 

In this circumstance the law says that the husband will get 50% of his wife property. (The statutory heirs of the same class in any of the classes as specified above are entitled to equal shares.)

• So long as there is any heir surviving or represented in a class as specified above, the heir of the lower class has no right at all to the estate of the deceased.  (However, the foregoing answer does not apply in the particular case where there is any descendant surviving or represented as the case may be, and also the parents or one of them is still surviving. In such case each parent is entitled to the same share as an heir in the degree of children.)
• If there is no heir from any of the classes specified above, the surviving spouse is entitled to the whole inheritance. 

Note 1:  If the wife left a Will and specifically excluded her entire heirs from any share of the house, then the surviving spouse gets 100%.

Note 2: Spouses who are living apart under desertion or separation, do not lose their statutory right of inheritance as long as divorce has not taken place.

3.

What are the different options that the foreigner can use to protect his share of ownership?

REPLY:
a. Usufruct Registration at life time period, no compensation, register at the Land Office. And/or,

b. Loan Agreement and loan guarantee as Mortgage Registration at Land Office.

c. Lease agreement for 30 years and do the Registration at land Office.

4.

A Prenuptial Agreement should be prepared and signed before the Marriage Registration takes place.

5.

A farang has to make sure that the marriage is registered at the District Office.

6.

The Thai wife can be the owner of the land. The Farang husband can, in writing, lease the land from his wife for up to 30 years. The husband can own the house 100%. The husband then registers the house in his name.

7.

Have your Thai wife make a Will that disinherits all of her statutory heirs, giving you the land and the house.

Section 93 of Land Code and Supreme Court No. 475/2511 (Said that such of will is valid)

8.

I can then own the land?

Reply 1:
Yes if you get the land as a Thai wife only heir by her Will and with the Interior Minister Approved. This circumstance you are legally own the land 100% by Civil & Commercial Code and Land Code. If the land is not more than 1 rai for living or not more than 10 rai if it for industry, you are not subject to sell the land within 1 year.

Only illegal possession of the land by another law such as seizure of the land by forcing the mortgage under the Civil and Commercial Code, this case you are subject to sell the land within 1 year.

Reply 2:
No. You are, under the previous example, entitled to 100% of the shares of land, HOWEVER, you must sell the land (not less than 180 days or not longer a year) within 1 year. You can, of course, sell the land to someone you trust, and do not have to leave the house because your 30 year lease protects you, regardless of your spouse (the Lessor) dying before you do. 

9.

If the wife dies first, how are bank accounts distributed?

REPLY: If it is a joint account between husband and wife, the husband automatically gets 50%, the 50% that belonged to the wife is then distributed 25% to the husband and 25% to the son. The husband thus gets 75% of the joint bank account, UNLESS, heirs are specifically excluded by a wife’s Will.

10.

The Thai stepson comes into the house and belligerently starts loading up his truck with possessions inside the house. What can the surviving spouse do?

REPLY: Call the police and have the stepson removed from the property. 
    

11.

What role does the Family Court play in all this?

REPLY: Family Court appoints a Probate Executor usually
a family member. The Executor is required to prepare an inventory of property for the court and distribute assets per a Will, if one exists.

12.

The husband dies first. He has a son in the USA from a former marriage. The son has been named as an heir to a portion of the assets. What must the USA son do to claim his share of the assets?

REPLY: He needs to go to the US Embassy and get a copy of the death certificate certified. The son needs to bring a certified copy of his own birth certificate that identified him as being the son. A copy of the Will, the son’s address in the USA. These documents need to be translated into Thai. The son then needs to provide the documentation to all parties needing such documentation, ie. The Court, the Bank, etc.

13.

The husband dies first leaving a wife and son.  The husband/father wrote out his will in English. Is it valid?

REPLY: The will is valid, BUT, it must be translated into Thai. when presented to the Court.

14.

The Farang and his Thai wife has a son living in the USA. Can the Son inherit and hold land if the mother Wills it to him?

REPLY: If the son’s birth is registered with the Thai government, he will be considered a Thai national – even though he is an American citizen.  Therefore, the son could inherit and keep the land.

The son is required to choose by Thai law on his 20th birthday, his decision to be a Thai national or an American National. (In practice, no one checks and many half Thai-American offspring hold dual citizenship.)

15.

What documents must a REAL lawyer have to certify that he/she is a lawyer?

REPLY: A real lawyer must:

1. Hold Thai Nationality
2. Have a minimum degree in law as BBL, or higher from a recognized university.
3. Pass the Training and Examination at the Lawyers Council of Thailand
4. Be a Life Member of the Thai Bar Association
5. Be Registered with the Lawyer Council of Thailand who then provides a lawyer I.D. card with control number. 

DISCLAIMER:
The above questions and answers were provided at a forum held by the Veterans of Foreign Wars – Pattaya Post on January 6, 2009. These discussions are only a guide. The VFW Post does not represent that the material provided in this FAQ covers all issues, or has not since been replaced by a more recent statute. The material here is only to get the veteran to think about these issues. A lawyer is highly recommended to confirm that the material presented here is valid in your particular circumstance.