What happens to my condo in Thailand when I die? It passes under Thai law, whatever your nationality, because Thailand applies the law of the country where land or a condo unit is located. Thai banks and land offices act on a Thai court order appointing an estate administrator, so the unit and your Thai bank balance stay frozen until that order is final. Leave no will and the condo goes to statutory heirs in the order the Civil and Commercial Code sets; a partner you are not legally married to gets nothing.
A will in Thailand for foreigners does not avoid court, but it decides who inherits and saves months. By one law firm’s practice estimates, an uncontested Thai will takes about four to six months from filing to the final court certificate, while relying on a home-country will typically adds six to twelve months (as of October 2026).
Your Thai condo with and without a Thai will
| At a glance | No will | Home-country will only | Separate Thai will |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who gets the condo | Statutory heirs under Thai law | Your beneficiaries, if the will is valid in form | Your beneficiaries |
| What the Thai court needs | An heir’s petition with proof of kinship | Certified Thai translations, legalised documents, often proof of foreign law | The Thai will, read directly |
| Typical time to the court certificate | Court appointment still required | Adds about 6–12 months | About 4–6 months if uncontested |
Without a will, six classes of heirs inherit in order: descendants (with surviving parents sharing alongside them), parents, full siblings, half siblings, grandparents, then uncles and aunts. A registered spouse, including a same-sex spouse since January 2025, shares alongside them after first taking half of the marital property.
Why a Thai will for property, even with a will at home
Two rules of Thailand’s inheritance law for foreigners explain the table. Land and condo units pass under the law of the place where they are located, while bank accounts, vehicles and shares follow the law of your domicile at death (Act on Conflict of Laws B.E. 2481, ss.37–38). And in practice Thai banks and land offices act only on a Thai court order: a UK Grant of Probate or US Letters Testamentary has no force here, though it helps as evidence.
A foreign will can still be valid if it meets the formalities of your national law or of the country where you signed it. Using it, though, means translation, legalisation and proof of foreign law while the account stays frozen and the condo cannot be transferred. Hence law firms’ usual advice: a separate Thai will for Thai assets only, ideally bilingual, since a court needs a certified Thai translation of a will in any other language.
Limit each will to its own territory. A standard home-country will that revokes “all previous wills” can cancel your Thai will.
Five ways to make a will in Thailand as a foreigner
A Thai will is valid only in one of the forms the Civil and Commercial Code prescribes, and foreigners can use them for Thai assets. It needs no registration at the district office (amphur): only two of the five forms are made before a district officer.
| Form | How it is made | Witnesses | Where made and kept | Pros and cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary written will (s.1656) | In writing and dated; you sign in front of the witnesses | At least two, who also sign | Anywhere; you, your lawyer or executor keep it | The usual choice and easy to make bilingual; witnesses need care |
| Holograph will (s.1657) | Entirely in your handwriting, including date and signature | None | Anywhere; you keep it | Private and simple, but every word must be handwritten |
| Public-document will (s.1658) | You state your wishes to a district officer, who writes them down and reads them back; everyone signs | At least two | District office; you may take the original, leaving a certified duplicate | An official record, but the officer and witnesses hear your terms |
| Secret-document will (s.1660) | Signed, sealed, signed across the seal and presented to the district officer | At least two | District office (sealed envelope) | Private contents, strict formalities |
| Oral will (s.1663) | Only in special circumstances such as imminent danger of death, an epidemic or war | At least two, who must report it to a district officer without delay | — | Lapses one month after you can again use another form |
Since 24 March 2026, the Ministerial Regulation on the Making of Wills B.E. 2569 lets you make a public or secret will at any district or khet office, not only the one for your house registration. The official fee is 250 baht (500 baht if the officer comes to you).
If a beneficiary, or a beneficiary’s spouse, writes or witnesses the will, the beneficiary loses the gift. Minors, people of unsound mind or adjudged quasi-incompetent, and people who are deaf, mute or blind in both eyes cannot witness; law firms advise adults aged 20 or over who receive nothing. The testator must be at least 15.
Naming an executor
The estate administrator (ผู้จัดการมรดก) handles the bank and the Land Office on the strength of a Thai court’s appointment order. Your will is where you choose that person: in practice the court normally appoints whoever the will names.
- Who cannot serve: minors, people of unsound mind or adjudged quasi-incompetent, and bankrupts (s.1718). Nationality is no bar.
- The job: carrying out the will and managing the estate (s.1719), including an inventory started within 15 days of taking office and finished within a month unless the court extends it (ss.1728–1729).
- Practicalities: hearings are in Thai and judges expect the proposed administrator in person; afterwards, a power of attorney to a Thai lawyer covers most paperwork. Choose someone who can travel to Thailand.
Probate in Thailand step by step, and how long it takes
- Documents: the will, proof of death, the heirs’ papers and a list of Thai assets. Foreign documents need certified Thai translations and legalisation (certification at home, a Thai embassy or consulate, then the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs), typically one to three months. Thailand acceded to the Apostille Convention on 30 June 2026, with entry into force scheduled for 28 February 2027; from then, an apostille should replace that chain unless the issuing country objected to the accession.
- Petition: an heir, a beneficiary or another interested person applies to the court of the deceased’s domicile at death or, with no Thai domicile, where the property is.
- Hearing: typically two to three months after filing.
- Appeal window: one month from the day the order is read, then a certificate of finality, which banks and the Land Office rely on.
- Transfers: another two to six months at the Land Office and the banks.
Court fees for an uncontested petition are a few hundred baht; translations, legalisation and lawyers are the real cost, and contested estates can take years. Heirs abroad should move quickly: inheritance claims face short limitation periods, in some cases one year from the death or from when the heir learned of it.
Can a foreigner inherit a condo in Thailand?
Yes, but keeping it is another matter. A foreign heir, whether by statute or under a will, must notify the competent official in writing within 60 days. Then the Condominium Act applies:
- The heir personally qualifies to own a unit and the building stays within its foreign quota (49% of the total floor area of all units): the heir keeps it. If the inheritance takes the building over the quota, the excess must be disposed of within one year.
- The heir does not qualify: the unit must be sold or otherwise disposed of within one year, after which the Director-General of the Department of Lands may sell it.
Qualifying routes include Thai permanent residence and admission under investment promotion. Buyers normally qualify by bringing money in from abroad, documented by the bank, at least equal to the price (see how to buy a condo in Thailand as a foreigner). Whether an heir can use that route is not settled in the sources we checked, so get a Thai lawyer’s view within the 60 days and treat a sale as the fallback.
The quota belongs to the building and moves as units change hands; the juristic person certifies the current ratio (see foreign quota condos in Pattaya). A Thai-national heir, such as a Thai spouse or child, is not subject to these rules, though a later sale to a foreigner needs free quota. For heirs who sell, see our guide to selling a condo in Thailand as a foreigner.
If the estate includes land
A foreigner who inherits land, typically from a Thai spouse, can keep it only with the Interior Minister’s permission: discretionary, uncertain in practice, open to statutory heirs (not beneficiaries under a will) and limited to 1 rai for residence. Otherwise the land must be sold within the 180-day to one-year period the Department of Lands sets, or the Director-General sells it.
Villas held through a lease or a Thai company: what passes to heirs
| How you hold it | Passes to heirs? | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Registered land lease (up to 30 years) | Thai courts have treated an ordinary lease as ending on the tenant’s death | An inheritance clause is only the landlord’s contractual promise |
| House owned separately from the land | Yes: land restrictions do not cover buildings | Secure it with a registered superficies |
| Superficies (right to own a building on another’s land) | Yes, unless the deed excludes it or it runs only for your lifetime | Fixed term or lifetime, registered at the Land Office |
| Usufruct | No: it ends when the holder dies | Protects a living person only |
| Shares in a Thai company that owns the land | The shares pass; the land stays with the company | Nominee shareholding is illegal |
On leases, a law firm cites Supreme Court Decision 3254/2545, though contract wording can matter, and names a registered superficies or a Sap Ing Sith right as the inheritable alternatives (see freehold vs leasehold in Thailand).
Shares are movables and pass under the law of your domicile at death. Where the Thai shareholders are nominees, the structure breaches the Land Code and the Foreign Business Act, and in September 2026 the authorities reported screening 125,622 land- and condo-holding companies for such arrangements. Heirs would inherit that risk, so law firms advise restructuring while the owner is alive (background: buying a villa via leasehold or a Thai company).
Inheritance tax in Thailand and the Land Office fee
Thailand’s inheritance tax rarely touches a condo. Under the Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558, an heir pays only if the net value received from one deceased person exceeds 100 million baht, and only on the excess: 10%, or 5% for ascendants and descendants. Spouses are exempt. Foreign heirs without a Thai immigration domicile (a law firm reads this as permanent residence, not tax residence) are taxed only on Thai assets. Property is valued at the Land Office appraised value, and a liable heir files and pays within 150 days of receiving the inheritance. No revision of the threshold was found as of October 2026.
Registering the inheritance costs 0.5% of the appraised value for a spouse, ascendants or descendants and, according to a law firm, 2% for other heirs. The temporary 0.01% fee for Thai buyers does not cover inheritance transfers.
Worked example: a condo left to a daughter or to a friend
Assumptions (illustrative): appraised value 2,500,000 baht; the heir inherits nothing else from the deceased; death and registration fall in the same calendar year; the heir sells the following year for 3,500,000 baht. The median asking price of apartments for sale listed on our site in October 2026 is 3,695,000 baht.
| Cost, baht | Daughter | Friend |
|---|---|---|
| Inheritance registration fee | 12,500 (0.5%) | 50,000 (2%) |
| Inheritance tax | 0 | 0 |
| On sale: specific business tax | Not charged on inherited property | Not charged |
| On sale: stamp duty, 0.5% of the higher of price and appraised value | 17,500 | 17,500 |
| On sale: income tax withheld | 107,500 | 107,500 |
The withholding takes the appraised value less a flat 50% deduction for inherited property and spreads it over the calendar years held (two here) at progressive rates. Selling in the year of death would count as one year and raise it to 185,000 baht. The sale’s transfer fee comes on top, and the Land Office calculates the real figures.
Checklist: what to keep together for your heirs
- Your Thai will, a note of where the original is, and your executor’s and Thai lawyer’s contacts.
- Your home-country will, limited to non-Thai assets.
- The original title deed, Or Chor 2 (อ.ช.2); replacing a lost one takes a 30-day public notice (see Thai title deeds explained).
- The purchase contract and FET forms or bank credit advices. If the unit is sold and the money sent abroad, banks typically ask for the original inflow alongside the sale documents (see our FET guide).
- Juristic person contacts and common-fee receipts: a sale needs its debt-free certificate, and it certifies the building’s foreign-ownership ratio.
- Your Thai bank accounts: bank, branch, account number.
- Passport copies, marriage and birth certificates that prove who your heirs are.
- For villas: the registered lease, superficies or usufruct, or the company’s share documents.
The short version
A bilingual Thai will limited to Thai assets, an executor who can attend a Thai court and one file of documents will save your family months. If your heirs are foreigners, ask a lawyer now whether they could keep the unit or would need to sell it.
Rules change: this reflects Thai law as of October 2026 and is general information, not legal advice. Have a Thai lawyer confirm your specific case.
Buying with your heirs in mind? We can check a building’s foreign-quota position and the papers your family will need later. Write to us in Telegram or WhatsApp through our contacts page.
