If you have married in Thailand and now are looking at investment and buying land in the name of your Thai wife, you might learn that for a Thai to hold property in their name for a foreigner is illegal. The issue of nominees have created its own problems as it is now said that most of Pattaya and Hua Hin are owned by foreigners – see here.
With the current law that does not allow a foreigner to own land in their name we have seen an increase in land scams and also more nominee buying of land in Thailand. If your Thai wife is buying land then she needs to to able to show that it is her money being used to buy the land. The property hence also does not fall under common property in the marriage but personal property. Should you get divorced the land will still belong to her. Section 1471 and Section 1472 of the Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand dictates that she proves proof of funds for buying the property.
You need to have a joint written confirmation also which states that you have no claim over the property and this the property belongs to your Thai wife in her personal capacity. This letter needs to be either done at the Royal Thai Embassy, Royal Thai Consulate or Notary Public if you are outside of Thailand. In Thailand it needs to be done at the Land Department.
If she dies the law does make provision that you can inherit the property. The Land Code Act states that you can inherit at the discretion of the Minister of Interior. The land being inherited however may not be bigger than that stipulated in Section 87 of the Land Act.
If you have any questions about buying property in Thailand in the name of a nominee then speak to a lawyer first or you might see the loss of an investment in Thailand. Speak to us today or see our main website for more details.
