Doomsday List

[Big Boy]

On 12 Nov 13 we were all given the news that forum member Sargeant had passed away. He thought he had prepared well for such an eventuality (he had, but there were many holes), but those who rallied around to help his young widow soon realised how little they knew e.g.:

* How many death certificates/how many signatures?
* Is a Post-Mortem required?
* Who to contact regarding pension/what was his widow entitled to?
* Do the police need to be involved?
* Who's responsibility is it to inform who?
* Management of finances including bank accounts, reclaiming tax paid etc.

The list is pretty long, and obviously varies from nationality to nationality.

It was suggested that we put together a doomsday list (maybe one for each nationality), which would be locked, but could be added to as and when new facts come to light. People could feed information into this thread, and it could be incorporated into the 'locked' master documents and used as a source of reference when the unthinkable happens.

I personally thought that most information for Brits would be on the UK Embassy website. However, when you drill down into it, there are dozens of pages not actually telling you anything.

So, I'm floating this to see what response it gets. If it seems worthwhile, I'll start to construct the Doomsday List.

Dying in a foreign country is not easy.

[jingjoe]

one of things i have left with a relative in australia,is a letter with my bank account pin numbers and instructions,so at least my wife(ex) will have access to immediate money for my son until my estate is divided up.

[oakdale160]

Excellent idea

[HHADFan]

Thanks for posting this, BB. I'm willing to do at least part of the research for US citizens if no one else wants to.

One personal matter is to leave contact information for friends you would like to be informed of your death - phone number, email, or Skype address - something, written down where your missus or your friends can find it.

Sarge had a friend named Mick who moved to the Philippines several years ago. They kept in touch by Skype. I couldn't hack into Sarge's Skype account, and I only knew of Mick, but didn't know him, so have no way to inform him of Sarge's death.

[richard]

Good idea

In my condo there is a notice or there was last time I looked, detailing procedures and such information together with guideline costs associated with certain functions. i.e. Flowers for temple, temple costs etc.

I'll see if I can locate and get a copy

[Nereus]

The idea has a lot of merit. However, where are you going to find actual facts and proceedures, apart from such things as death certificates? Every case will have a different set of circumstances.

There has been no end of posts on this forum concerning the "laws" in Thailand, and their multitude of interpretations, posted by bar room lawyers. The same will apply to other countries, where each have different laws and proceedures.

I am not saying that it cannot be done, just that it will be very difficult to sort out facts from peoples personal experinces, as opposed to what is law, and would most likely degenerate into mud slinging, such as has been seen previously.

I would say that the most important thing is to ensure that you have a properly drawn up will for a start. And having been through it, also a will from your wife / family. The simple fact is: you have no idea how "family" will react if they think, or are led to believe, that they can benefit from your demise. Which, in turn, will lead back to my point of interpretation of the law.

[hhfarang]

Just an idea that I've thought about using. There is lots of financial info the typical Thai wife doesn't deal with every day if they are like mine... bank accounts in multiple countries, passwords for online accounts (financial and possibly email so those final emails can be answered, etc.,). Some online services, even some of the free ones, have an option to send a stored email if you have not logged on in a certain period of time or do not answer a query within a time frame.

I think I've read that some of the free email accounts even have this service (but I can't find that right now). If you have an email account that you typically use every day or even every week you can write pertinent information for your loved ones in case of your demise, or a coma, or whatever reason for days longer than the period of time that you normally access your email, and after the specified period of time it will be sent. Obviously, in this case, you need to pick an account that you use often, and don't forget in case you decide to stop using it for some reason, and carefully decide on the length of time without a logon that you want the message to be sent, or you could cause havoc.

As my wife likes to write things down and they tend to get lost, I've thought this would be the best way to send her instructions after I'm gone... kind of like a message from the grave. Spooky, I know, especially for a Thai, but consider that you could say things you wish you had said before you went in the mail also, since you never know when or how it will happen.

Here is a list of some of the free and paid services that can send messages or do things for you in the afterlife...

http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/social-m ... ter-death/

edit: Here's a more comprehensive list of digital afterlife services:

http://www.thedigitalbeyond.com/online-services-list/

[migrant]

I think its a good idea. I deal, at times, with a spouse that was unfamiliar with family finances when the other dies. They are lost and need help since they have no clue. Compound this with the foreign rules and it can be a chore for the unknowledgeable.

[Pagey]

What Nereus has said about how the Thai family may react if they will benefit from your demise, can you put a clause in your will stating something like the Thai family will only benefit if you die of natural causes/illness ? If there are any suspicious circumstances the estate goes to a named charity or other named beneficiary? Maybe Ratsima will read this and ask his lawyer wife.

[poosmate]

Maybe to ensure accuracy a past their sell by date moderator could be sacrificed at the start of each year.

[Homer]

The lists of things to do would be long and wrong in many cases. This idea is too difficult to implement. If you agree with those two statements, why are you still reading this thread? Go find something else to complain about and get out of the way of people trying to do something constructive.

This can't be the first Thai expat forum, or expat forum, or we're-all-getting-old forum that's considered this task. Lets harvest ideas from others. I'd start with established sources and build a pile of potential tasks to include in the list.
- Embassy staffs must hate being asked the same questions every day, so pages like this should be easy to find: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/service/de ... tizen.html
- Attorneys and law firms sell after death service. Their websites summarize tasks they will perform for a fee, so we could harvest ideas there.
- Blogs and newspaper articles in home countries have tales of the red tape nightmares of getting their loved one's remains back home. Make a list from their problems.
- Maybe the Thai government has published something on this.

As for what is officially required by Thailand or the home country, who cares if it's not true in every case? Would you rather be in the dark or know what has been asked for, regardless of what the law says regardless if everyone is asked for it?

Doing this in a single threaded forum would a royal pain in the ass. Nobody who makes work group collaboration software uses the single threaded forum model as their sole tool. Build it in a wiki then post each release in the forum as a sticky.

The aim would be to provide a rough guide to the after death process, not provide set in stone truth. Still, some will argue and some will argue a lot. So why not, if enough people vote down the less helpful member's contributions, let that be grounds for revoking their wiki password?

[Big Boy]

Thanks for your responses so far guys. Negative and positive, they are all appreciated, and provide food for thought. I will let this thread run for another couple of days before drawing any conclusions. Please keep the contributions coming.

[Nereus]

The lists of things to do would be long and wrong in many cases. This idea is too difficult to implement. If you agree with those two statements, why are you still reading this thread? Go find something else to complain about and get out of the way of people trying to do something constructive.

.......and would most likely degenerate into mud slinging, such as has been seen previously.

I rest my case!

[Siani]

I have "mywinlocker" Yo-safe on my computer. I keep all my secret things there like passwords etc.
Maybe leave password for the yo-safe with the bank or solicitor in the event of dying
The best thing is to leave a will

[migrant]

The best thing is to leave a will

In the states a living trust is a great thing to have.