Inheritance is one of the most under-asked questions in the Thai foreign-buyer process and one of the highest-stakes when it goes wrong. The structure that works fine while you are alive — a Thai-company-held villa, a leasehold without heir clauses, an unwilled condo — can leave your heirs with a forced sale, a court fight, or a year-long disposal scramble. This article covers what actually happens to Thai property when a foreign owner dies, organized by what was owned.
Condos owned freehold in the foreigner’s name
The cleanest case. A foreigner-owned freehold condo passes to heirs under the will or by intestate succession, the same as any other asset.
With the foreign quota open at the time of inheritance: the heir registers the inheritance with the Land Office, pays inheritance transfer fees (currently a flat THB 100 registration plus stamp duties), and the unit is theirs. Foreign heirs are treated the same as the deceased — they can hold, rent, or sell the unit.
With the foreign quota full at the time of inheritance: the heir has inherited the right to the unit but must dispose of it because the building cannot lawfully count another foreign-owned unit. The Land Office will record the inheritance but flag the unit for disposal. The Condominium Act is silent on the exact deadline. Practitioner convention and Land Office handling typically allow around 12 months as a reasonable period before pressure to force disposal, but this is convention rather than codified precedent — buyers and heirs should confirm with the Land Office and a Thai lawyer in the specific case. The heir keeps the sale proceeds.
Thai heirs are unaffected by the quota and keep the unit regardless.
Leasehold land
A registered 30-year lease passes to the lessee’s heirs for the remainder of the term as an asset of the estate. Section 569 of the Civil and Commercial Code provides that a lease of immovable property is not extinguished by transfer of the property’s ownership, and the prevailing practitioner view — also reflected in our 30-year leasehold in Thailand — registration, renewal, and what to negotiate article — is that the registered lease survives the lessee’s death and is inheritable as a contract right of the estate.
The narrow contrary view, supported by some older Supreme Court decisions treating leases as personal contracts of the lessee, holds that leases extinguish on death unless the contract expressly provides for inheritance. Reputable Thai law firms have addressed this uncertainty for decades by drafting an explicit heir-substitution clause into every long-lease contract, stating that on the lessee’s death the lease passes to named heirs for the remainder of the term. With the clause present, inheritance is uncontroversial; without it, heirs may face an argument from the lessor’s side, especially if the relationship has soured or the underlying land has gained materially in value.
Practical checklist for leasehold buyers:
- Confirm the lease contract includes an explicit heir-substitution clause naming heirs by relationship class (“the Lessee’s heirs at law and devisees”) rather than by name (which goes stale on remarriage or new children).
- Note that the heirs cannot renew the lease at the end of the initial 30-year term as a contractual right — see the 2025 Supreme Court guidance summarized in 30-year leasehold in Thailand — registration, renewal, and what to negotiate. The renewal cap is the same for heirs as for the original lessee.
- Stack the lease with a registered superficies on any building — the superficies gives separate, transferable, inheritable rights to the structure regardless of how the lease question is resolved. See Usufruct, superficies, habitation — alternative real rights for foreigners in Thailand.
The pre-purchase legal review on a leasehold villa should specifically verify the heir-substitution clause is present and worded broadly.
Thai-company-held property
A villa held by a Thai limited company passes by company-share inheritance, not property inheritance. The foreigner held some percentage of the company shares (typically 49% directly, with preference-share structures controlling the Thai-majority shares); on death, the shares pass to heirs under the foreign owner’s will or intestate succession.
Two layers of problems:
Inheritance of preference shares does not survive scrutiny. If the Thai-majority shareholding was nominee from the start (the 2024-2025 enforcement landscape — see Thai company structures for property ownership — what changed in 2024–2025), inheriting the foreigner’s preference shares into a foreign heir’s name turns the structure into an even more visible nominee arrangement. Heirs typically face the same restructuring decision the original owner should have faced: convert to leasehold-plus-superficies, dissolve the company, or accept ongoing enforcement risk.
Foreign-heir share ownership above the 49% threshold triggers FBA. If the original Thai-shareholder block also dies or transfers shares such that foreign shareholding exceeds 49%, the company becomes “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act and the land-ownership exemption falls away. The company is then required to dispose of the land.
The clean exit, both for the original owner and for the heirs, is to restructure out of the company before death. Doing it after death is procedurally harder and more expensive.
Inheriting land directly — the Section 93 trap
The most consequential rule. When a foreigner inherits land in Thailand — most commonly when a foreign spouse inherits land their Thai-national spouse owned — Section 93 of the Land Code provides that the foreigner cannot keep ownership. The Land Office will not register permanent transfer into the foreigner’s name. Instead the title is conditionally transferred with a requirement to dispose of the land.
The one-year disposal rule. Land Department practice gives the foreign heir one year from registration of the inheritance to dispose of the land. Disposal can be by sale to a Thai national, gift to Thai-citizen children, or transfer to a leasehold arrangement where the underlying ownership goes to a Thai owner. If the heir does not dispose within the year, the Director-General of the Land Department has authority to force the sale and remit proceeds to the heir.
The common scenario: foreign spouse of a Thai landowner. A foreigner married to a Thai national whose spouse owned the land they lived on. When the Thai spouse dies, the foreigner inherits the land under Thai intestate succession (or under a Thai will). Section 93 then kicks in. The foreign spouse cannot stay as the registered owner. Typical solutions:
- Transfer the land to the couple’s Thai-citizen children (if any) and stay on as a long-term lessee with a registered superficies on the house. This is the most common path.
- Sell to a Thai national third party and use the proceeds for a replacement leasehold property.
- Transfer to a properly-formed Thai company with genuine Thai shareholders — high risk in the current enforcement environment, generally not recommended.
The planning move is to set this up before death, not after. A pre-arranged superficies, usufruct, or lease in the foreign spouse’s name on the Thai-owned land secures the foreigner’s right of occupation regardless of who eventually inherits the land. See Usufruct, superficies, habitation — alternative real rights for foreigners in Thailand and Buying property in Thailand via a Thai spouse — what's actually allowed.
Foreign wills, Thai wills, and probate
Thailand recognizes valid foreign wills, but the practical recognition process is slow. A foreign will covering Thai assets must be:
- Translated into Thai by a certified translator
- Authenticated by the relevant foreign authority (apostille or consular legalization)
- Presented to a Thai court for recognition before any Thai registry will act on it
This process typically takes 6-12 months and can run THB 50,000-200,000 in lawyer and court fees, before any transfer can occur.
A separate Thai will covering only your Thai assets bypasses this entirely. A bilingual Thai will, drafted by a Thai law firm, executed in front of two adult witnesses in Thailand (Civil and Commercial Code Section 1656), is recognized by the Thai courts directly. Probate then takes 3-6 months and is materially cheaper.
A Thai will does not invalidate your home-country will as long as the Thai will is clearly limited to Thai assets (the standard practice is to include language like “this will applies solely to my assets located within the Kingdom of Thailand”). Your home-country will continues to govern all assets outside Thailand.
Cost of a properly drafted bilingual Thai will from a Bangkok or Phuket law firm in 2026: typically THB 10,000-30,000. Single highest leverage spend in foreign Thai-property estate planning.
Inheritance tax in Thailand
Thailand has had an inheritance tax since 2016 (Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558). Key thresholds in 2026:
- Threshold: estates above THB 100M total Thai-situs value
- Rate: 5% for descendants and ascendants, 10% for everyone else
- Foreign heirs are taxed the same as Thai-national heirs on Thai-situs assets
For most foreign-owned Phuket properties, the THB 100M threshold means inheritance tax does not apply in practice. For substantial estates (multi-villa portfolios, large Bangkok developments), the 5-10% Thai tax stacks on top of any home-country inheritance or estate tax. Tax treaty relief is patchy — Thailand has limited estate-tax treaty network, so foreign heirs may face double taxation in some jurisdictions.
Planning checklist
For any foreign owner of Thai property, the inheritance-readiness checklist:
- Thai-specific bilingual will covering Thai assets, executed in Thailand with two witnesses
- For leasehold villas: heir-substitution clause in the lease contract
- For Thai-company-held villas: restructure to leasehold-plus-superficies before death, not after
- For foreign spouses of Thai landowners: register a usufruct, superficies, or long lease in your name on the Thai-owned land
- Up-to-date list of Thai assets and the law firm holding the relevant documents
- Named Thai-resident executor with authority to act locally
The total cost of doing all of this is typically under THB 50,000. The cost of not doing it can be the loss of the property.