Testator and Testatrix: The Person Making a Will

Révisé par ThaiLawOnline, un cabinet d'avocats thaïlandais agréé exerçant en Thaïlande depuis 2006. Avocate thaïlandaise en charge du dossier : Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., licence du barreau thaïlandais 3149/2556.

Dernière mise à jour le 5 septembre 2026

A testator (ผู้ทำพินัยกรรม, phu tham phinaikam; a woman is sometimes called a testatrix) is the person who makes a will, the declaration by which someone decides who receives their property on death. The will takes effect only when the testator dies. Everything else in succession law flows from this role: the testator chooses the form of will, names the heirs or legatees, may nominate the domaine administrator, and can change or cancel the whole arrangement at any time while still capable.

Who can be a testator under Thai law

Capacity. A will made by a person who has not completed their fifteenth year is void (Section 1703), and so is a will made by a person adjudged incompetent. A will by someone alleged to be of unsound mind stands unless it is proved that the person was actually insane when it was made. Capacity is judged only at the moment the will is made (Section 1654): later dementia does not undo a will signed while lucid.

The act itself. The testator must use one of the forms the Code recognises, most often the ordinary witnessed will (Section 1656), the holographic will (Section 1657) or the public will made at a district office (Section 1658). The testator signs personally; a will signed in instalments, with witnesses arriving at different times, is void. A testator can revoke a will at any time, by a new will, by destroying the document, or by disposing of the property during life. A letter announcing a change of mind is not a revocation.

Practical points for a foreign testator

A foreigner living in Thailand, or simply owning a condominium or a bank account here, can be a testator under Thai law for the assets in Thailand. The will need not be in Thai, but a bilingual document avoids a paid translation and arguments over meaning at succession. Date the will, sign every page, and keep the original where the named administrator can find it: there is no national register of private wills.

The witness trap. The person who writes out the will and any witness to it cannot take anything under it, and neither can their spouses (Section 1653); that cadeau fails while the rest of the will survives. A witness must be an adult of sound mind who is not deaf, mute or blind (Section 1670). The common mistake is asking the Thai partner who will inherit to sign as a witness. Anyone with property in more than one country should also read the guide on holding a Thai will and a will at home, because two wills that revoke each other leave the testator intestate.

Testator, heir, legatee and administrator

The testator makes the will. A statutory heir inherits by law when there is no will or the will does not cover everything. A legatee receives property under the will, related to the testator or not. The estate administrator, usually nominated by the testator and confirmed by the court, collects the assets, pays the debts and distributes the rest. Thai law has no forced heirship, so a testator may leave everything to a friend or a charity and nothing to a child, if the will is valid in form.

When a will is attacked after death, the argument is almost always about the testator: capacity, whether both witnesses were present at the same time, whether the handwriting is genuine, or whether a beneficiary acted as witness. A properly witnessed and dated will, made while the testator was demonstrably well, answers most of those questions.

Foire aux questions

Voir aussi : volonté, holographic will, legatee, administrateur de succession, and the guides on making a last will in Thailand et le Thai will template.