wordchild

I used to live down the end of soi 11 and I dont know if they are still there, but there used to be 2 or 3 single houses tucked away on the opposite side of the soi , before you get to Kallista at the end.

still some single houses , but deep into the soi down toward the khlong, also down 11/1 , again heading toward the khlong.

Under UK law, it is the domicile of your father on the day of your birth. That is your domicile of origin, it is possible to claim a different domicile after many years outside the UK. As others have said the key point is where are your assets held? That is where probate will be needed and you should have your main will in that jurisdiction. eg if your accounts are in Singapore then your executors will need to apply for probate in Singapore, no need for a Thai probate application to cover those assets. You should also have a separate will, in Thailand, to cover your assets here, a Thai probate will be needed to cover those (Thai) assets. If there are no UK assets then there is no need for a UK probate. If you have been resident outside the UK for many years , and with no UK based assets, the Singapore courts should see no reason to involve the UK. Certainly that is the advice i have had from my own lawyers in Sing. (As for Australia i am not sure what the situation is and you should get legal advice on this when drawing up your (Singapore or other) will.) It may also be a good idea to attach to your wills a letter stating your residence and where you consider to be your permanent home. Inheritance tax obligation, on your estate, firstly depends on where the assets were held at the time of your death. eg in Singapore there is no inheritance tax. From what you have said about your situation, it is the inheritance law of the country where your assets are held that takes precedence . As long as you are not UK domiciled the UK could only make any claim for inheritance tax against the value of UK "situs" assets held by your estate; this would include eg UK property but also the shares or bonds of UK based companies even if they are held in an overseas broking account. If your beneficiaries are Thai residents there maybe a risk (depending on the circumstances) of Thai inheritance tax being levied. Again , its best to get (Thai and other countries) legal advice on this issue when drafting the wills. The advice i have had, in the past, is that there should be no Thai inheritance tax liability so long as the assets continue to be held outside Thailand by your beneficiaries. However, as we all know, the taxation rules are somewhat fluid here, and it would be best to get up to date advice on this. Depending on your family situation, it might be worth considering having your accounts in joint names. eg if your (eg Singapore) account is held jointly by you and your wife then it is possible that the assets would be transferred to her sole name on your death, by the bank, without the need for any probate. However this depends on the internal policies of the bank and the nature of the account. As i understand it, most Singapore banks (and banks in certain other countries) currently apply the principal of "survivorship" on the death of one of the joint account holders. You should certainly check with your non-Thai bank what their policies are before you set up any joint accounts.

I dont think that is the reason. I think its more that they make assumptions (maybe unfairly) about the lifestyle of farangs who speak Thai.

when i first moved to work in Thailand i thought i should make an effort to learn Thai, so i asked my then secretary to book a Thai tutor for a few hours of lessons each week. My secretary at the time was an oldish Thai lady who had been educated abroad, spoke immaculate English and came from a fairly high class background. Her response was along the lines of, what did i need to learn Thai for? Everyone in the company spoke English, and everyone i would likely be dealing with (customers etc) also spoke English, and anyone who didnt speak English she would deal with as that was HER job. None of her previous bosses had ever bothered to learn much Thai , she said. And anyway "only low class foreigners spoke Thai!" I ignored her advice, but i think her views are not unusual amongst certain Thais.

A couple of Thai brokers, that i am aware of, will open offshore trading accounts for customers. Services and markets offered vary from broker to broker, but it is possible to trade offshore and hold the funds outside Thailand with these accounts.

agricultural land, in an area she is familiar with. she can work it herself or rent it out.

The ease and speed of bank payment transfers here, is an area where Thai Banks are ahead of many countries in the West eg when i make a transfer on my UK Banks's phone app (when in the UK) it can take several minutes or even longer to process. In Thailand payment transfers and receipt notifications are handled pretty much instantly. In the early days one of the key benefits that the delivery service companies could offer to restaurants was the handling of cash and receipts. with the development of Promptpay and the speed and ease of the whole process, the value of that service for the restaurant has declined. I think as a trend more and more restaurants will seek direct relationships with their more lucrative customers and increasingly cut out the delivery companies.

I am sure you know this but delivery (of all kinds) is a very competitive market in Bangkok. There maybe a small niche for a service that covers the the higher/more specialist end of the restaurant market. But, my opinion, the traditional "full service" restaurant delivery operators (eg Food Panda) are slowly dying and not just in Thailand but also in the West as well. the original operators way overcharged the restaurants for what is a basic commodity service ie getting a motorcycle to deliver a package a couple of kilometres. Many restaurants i know have started to encourage regular customers to order direct from them and then transfer the money (plus motorcy or Grab taxi cost) direct to the restaurant. The restaurant then arranges the delivery and keeps its full margin.

Ever since the UK tightened up its regulation of Financial Advice and Fees the industry has gone through a much needed clean up. Much of the detritus that used to inhabit the industry has left it. Unfortunately some of the "characters" have moved into the "offshore" advisory market where they can continue with practices now outlawed in the UK , eg hidden charges, inappropriate products with ludicrous fees attached etc etc. There are some really excellent IFA,s in the UK who work hard and provide a needed and valuable service and it is really worthwhile putting some effort in to identify one to work with. As an aside i would suggest that , even when working with a UK IFA, it is important to make clear, at the outset, verbally and in writing, that you want the type of advice given and the fee structure, to be inline with UK regulation and best practice. Though obviously the advice given needs to be tailored to your status as an expat. This can be something of a grey area for an expat seeking advice from an onshore IFA and you should discuss at the outset.

This says it all. Sounds like this poster has had an horrendous time with one Thai based Financial Advisor. It is a simple rule, often repeated on this forum; Just stay clear of any Thai (or non-Uk) based FA. If you are a UK citizen with eg a UK pension, find yourself a UK based , and regulated , IFA. It is also the case with the other specialist advisers you will certainly need eg lawyers and accountants. Using 2 or 3 different advisers may be more expensive but from my experience its better to use real experts, and importantly chose these people yourself and dont let some IFA chose them. It is important they work directly for you. Different specialist advisers are also a good way to keep a check on the advice you are getting from the IFA. Importantly they should all be UK BASED with a UK registered office;that is not the same as an English guy who happens to base himself in Bangkok or Dubai but has connections/contacts back to the UK. As one poster says above most of this is not that complicated. Many years ago I set up my own QROP (as they were then called), I did most of the work myself, but had a small amount of (useful) help from a UK IFA , to whom i paid a reasonable fee. Plus I obtained the ( much more important!) tax advice, from my existing UK tax advisors. I also obtained independent legal advice on the structure from my UK lawyers. I kept the structure very simple ie no "offshore bonds" or other nonsense. Complicated structures are beloved by expat IFA,s because they provide both a way to lock you into them and also trouser more fees from your assets. If anyone tries to push you into something such as an Offshore Bond, walk away, they are likely not acting in your best interests. There are better and safer structures you can use depending on what you need to achieve. Anyone who promotes themselves as a FA specializing in Expats should be an immediate 'Red Flag" warning.

As i understand it the 500000 bt fee, for the 5 year extension, is applied AFTER the member's initial 20 YEAR period has reached its end. ie it allows the member to extend the visa for a total of 25 years and beyond that in blocs of 5 years. Its not a great deal but it may be attractive to some, eg especially to existing 20 year members (of the current scheme) who are likely to be offered a (possibly significant) discount to switch to the new category. I think the big issue with the new Thailand Privilege scheme is (as referenced above by Misty) that the economics do not stack up well against the "rival" LTR+ wk Permit Scheme.

It is fair to say there is an opportunity cost of spending current funds to purchase (assumed!) future benefits, as there is with any forward purchase. However the inflation risk in cost (or value), of those future benefits, is not borne by the purchaser it is borne by the provider. That is the value calculation in any forward purchase. The buyer needs to judge the cost now (incl the opportunity cost) against the "net present value" (to them) of the assumed future benefits. Plus , of course, with some consideration of the risk that the service is not provided, as promised, in future years!

With the original Elite you need to extend stay every 3 months but this can be done in-country, as i understand it. I know another original Elite owner and he has hardly left Thailand in the last 15 years, he just extends in country,. I think TE may even do it for him. Or maybe , by now , he has taken advantage of the free switch TE offer from the Lifetime to the 20 yr. Certainly that is what i would do if i ever needed to make use of the visa.

I wonder what the (transfer) value of the original Lifetime visa is now. I have one but have NO intention of selling. The actual visa is of no use to me as i work in Thailand , but i make use of the meet and greet service, and i keep it as a back-up for the future. But there maybe some of the original members who have fallen on hard times or returned to live in their own country. Could be a useful lump of cash for someone in that situation. I have a feeling that TE changed the rules a few years ago so that if transferred an original "Lifetime" visa was changed to a 20 year for the new owner. Maybe someone ,who knows, can correct me on that.