Making a Will

[dundrillin]

As a UK citizen, resident here in Thailand, I want to make a Will which will be effective both here and there. Any ideas about how to go about it? Does it require two separate documents to cover assets in both places?

I have been advised by lawyers here and in the UK that I need two separate wills.

[ExpatWills]

Hi Dundrillin, you are correct; you need a Will for each jurisdiction in which you hold assets. Be careful though when preparing these Wills that they do not cancel each other out. Usually a Will starts with "I hereby revoke all other Wills" and you don't want this to be included. If you need a Will for the UK, Canada or the US, and live abroad, [Mod Edit] You have already been warned that self promotion on this forum is not permitted. If you wish to continue using the forum, do not continue down this road. It would just need to be printed and signed in the presence of two witnesses to make it legal. Then you would need to create your local Will to cover your local assets.

[Pagey]

I am still searching for an English solicitor to make a will for my assets in the UK. It should be fairly simple as all my UK assets are in cash and there is only one major beneficiary albeit with some clauses as he is a minor.

I checked out the forum sponsor and sent an email to the address quoted on 16th October but I haven't had a reply.

Has anyone else used a UK solicitor here in Hua Hin ? Is there such a thing or do I need to look in Bkk ?

[dtaai-maai]

I checked out the forum sponsor and sent an email to the address quoted on 16th October but I haven't had a reply.

It's truly astonishing how difficult it is to persuade many businesses here that they need customers!

[malcolminthemiddle]

I am still searching for an English solicitor to make a will for my assets in the UK. It should be fairly simple as all my UK assets are in cash and there is only one major beneficiary albeit with some clauses as he is a minor.

I checked out the forum sponsor and sent an email to the address quoted on 16th October but I haven't had a reply.

Has anyone else used a UK solicitor here in Hua Hin ? Is there such a thing or do I need to look in Bkk ?

I would have thought you would have a better chance finding a solicitor up to date on current UK inheritance legislation involving minors in the UK rather than HH or BKK? Without a UK will, depending on circumstances, your UK assets could end up in the hands of the UK government.

[Pagey]

Malcolm, I agree about the UK Govt/taxman which is why I want to make a UK will, I have recently made a will for my assets in Thailand.

I left the UK in 2002 and never returned and I don't really want to pay for a flight back just to make a will if I can find a competent UK lawyer in Thailand.

[pdm3547]

Malcolm, I agree about the UK Govt/taxman which is why I want to make a UK will, I have recently made a will for my assets in Thailand.

I left the UK in 2002 and never returned and I don't really want to pay for a flight back just to make a will if I can find a competent UK lawyer in Thailand.

I had my will prepared in the UK, but I only met my solicitor for 10 minutes to sign it. The instructions were given over the phone and by return of written contract.

I'm sure my chap would happily take instructions by email, followed by an exchange of correspondence. Sure, it would take a little while longer, but you'd be far better getting a UK practitioner, fully up to date on legislation, to carry this out for you.

Happy to give you my chap's details if you PM me.

[ExpatWills]

It's a little frustrating that I am trying to provide a solution for people in this predicament, but am being warned that my solution is advertising and I will be barred from the forum if I continue.

I'll try and keep it in the abstract. You do need a Will for each jurisdiction in which you hold assets, and that Will must be written to comply with the laws of that jurisdiction (UK probate courts probably would not accept a Will written under the laws of Thailand). There is something called an "International Will" but not all jurisdictions accept an international Will.

However, you do not need a solicitor or lawyer to prepare a Will, there are tools available to prepare your own Will, but when you are looking for tools to do this, don't use a standard software package unless it is design explicitly to deal with an expat situation, otherwise your Will is going to cancel out other Wills that you may have created.

[pdm3547]

It's a little frustrating that I am trying to provide a solution for people in this predicament, but am being warned that my solution is advertising and I will be barred from the forum if I continue.

I'll try and keep it in the abstract. You do need a Will for each jurisdiction in which you hold assets, and that Will must be written to comply with the laws of that jurisdiction (UK probate courts probably would not accept a Will written under the laws of Thailand). There is something called an "International Will" but not all jurisdictions accept an international Will.

However, you do not need a solicitor or lawyer to prepare a Will, there are tools available to prepare your own Will, but when you are looking for tools to do this, don't use a standard software package unless it is design explicitly to deal with an expat situation, otherwise your Will is going to cancel out other Wills that you may have created.

If it were my forum, and the forum I had spent a long time cultivating and growing, I would think it only fair that someone who wants to promote their own business pay a small contribution to the cost of running the site. Maybe that's just me, though.

That said, I'm sure the mods will allow you to give your advice freely and with the usual caveat emptor advice, in the same way that the rest of the forum members do.

As for preparing your own will? Well, in my case it cost me just shy of £400 for a will for myself and my wife that will potentially save my children a few hundred thousand pounds in IT. I think that's worth getting in touch with a UK Step Practitioner who can do the thing properly and with the back-up of professional indemnity insurance.

[ExpatWills]

Hi pdm3547, I take your point, and I wasn't trying to hijack the forum for our own business development. I was firstly trying to address the incorrect advice that was being posted in this thread e.g. "you can prepare a will on your own utilizing any of the free on line templates, even if not in Thai it is accepted as long as you have two witnesses sign the document." I would hate for somebody to think this is correct and the consequences would only be felt by the people being left behind.

It seems that people are in a real predicament; they need a Will written under the law of the country in which they hold assets, but do not want to travel to say, the UK, just to prepare a Will. Yet, there is unlikely to be a solicitor licensed to practice UK law, operating in Thailand. The Will also needs to be written in such a way that it works together with any other Will that they may have for another country so an off-the shelf do-it-yourself template won't work.

Even in the best of situations most people don't write a Will (65% of adults in the UK, US etc), so with these barriers in place, it would be even more likely that people will procrastinate, yet, it's a very important thing to do.

[Pagey]

pdm, thanks for the offer of contact details of your solicitor, I may take you up on that if I cannot get a face to face meeting in Thailand.

For anyone currently in the UK who needs a will writing, November is Will AID month. You find a participating solicitor and you make a donation to a charitable cause, 95 GBP (single) or 150 GBP (couple).

http://www.willaid.org.uk/will-makers

They also mention that if the solicitors local to you are busy there is one solicitor who will write your will by phone or email contact so I have emailed them today to see if they will oblige for an overseas customer.