{"id":3311,"date":"2026-08-06T17:10:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T10:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/thai-will-and-foreign-will\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T05:31:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T22:31:53","slug":"thai-will-and-foreign-will","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/thai-will-and-foreign-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Need a Thai Will AND a Will at Home? Conflict of Law Guide (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Short answer:<\/strong> in almost every case, yes. You want a Thai will covering your Thai assets and a home-country will covering everything else, each expressly limited to its own territory so that neither cancels the other. Thai immovable property is the decisive point: under Section 37 of the Act on Conflict of Laws B.E. 2481, succession to immovable property is governed by the law of the place where the property is located, so your Thai condominium or land is governed by Thai law no matter what your will at home says.<\/p>\n\n

How the two wills interact depends on the Thai succession rules described in our guide to inheritance law in Thailand<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

The trap that catches people is the revocation clause. A later will at home that says “I hereby revoke all former wills”<\/em> can revoke your Thai will too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

This page explains which country’s law actually applies to which part of your estate, where the two documents collide, and how the scoping should be drafted. For the mechanics of making the Thai one, see making a will in Thailand<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Which Country’s Law Applies to What<\/h2>\n\n

Thailand does not simply apply Thai law to everything. It has a dedicated statute for this, the Act on Conflict of Laws B.E. 2481<\/strong>, and its succession provisions decide the question. Thai courts do apply it to foreign estates: in Supreme Court decision 4027\/2545, the powers of the administrator of the estate of a British national, appointed by an English court, were determined under this Act.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
Question<\/th>Governed by<\/th>Authority<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>\n
Succession to immovable<\/strong> property (land, condominium unit, buildings)<\/td>The law of the place where the property is located, so Thai law for Thai property<\/td>Section 37<\/td><\/tr>\n
Succession to movable<\/strong> property (bank accounts, vehicles, shares, personal effects), by will or by statute<\/td>The law of the deceased’s domicile<\/strong> at the time of death<\/td>Section 38<\/td><\/tr>\n
Whether you were capable<\/strong> of making a will<\/td>The law of your nationality<\/strong> at the time you made it<\/td>Section 39<\/td><\/tr>\n
Whether the will is in a valid form<\/strong><\/td>Either the law of your nationality, or the law of the country where you made it<\/td>Section 40<\/td><\/tr>\n
Effect and interpretation<\/strong> of the will, and its invalidity<\/td>The law of your domicile at the time of death<\/td>Section 41<\/td><\/tr>\n
Revocation<\/strong> of a will<\/td>The law of your domicile at the time of the revocation<\/td>Section 42<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

Two consequences follow immediately, and they are the reason a single will rarely works.<\/p>\n\n

First, your Thai property is not portable.<\/strong> Section 37 attaches immovable property to Thai law permanently. You cannot draft around it in a foreign will, and no foreign court order transfers a Thai chanote by itself. The Thai land office acts on a Thai court order.<\/p>\n\n

Second, domicile does a lot of work.<\/strong> Under Sections 38 and 41, your movable assets and the interpretation of your will follow your domicile at death, which is a question of fact, not of which visa you hold. A long-term expat who has genuinely made Thailand their permanent home may be domiciled in Thailand even while holding a foreign passport. That is exactly the kind of point that gets litigated when the family disagrees.<\/p>\n\n

Note in passing that Section 1667 of the Civil and Commercial Code is often miscited on this subject<\/strong>. Its Thai text opens with “\u0e04\u0e19\u0e43\u0e19\u0e1a\u0e31\u0e07\u0e04\u0e31\u0e1a\u0e2a\u0e22\u0e32\u0e21”<\/em>, Siamese subjects. It governs Thai nationals making a will abroad. It is not the provision that validates a foreigner’s foreign will.<\/p>\n\n

The Revocation Trap<\/h2>\n\n

This is the single most damaging drafting mistake we see, and it is almost always accidental.<\/p>\n\n

Standard will precedents in England, Australia, Canada and the United States open with a sweeping revocation: I revoke all wills and testamentary dispositions previously made by me.<\/em> If you sign your Thai will in March and a new will at home in November, that November clause can revoke the Thai will you paid for in March. Nobody at the solicitor’s office in your home country knows the Thai will exists.<\/p>\n\n

The reverse happens too. A Thai will with an unrestricted revocation clause, signed after a carefully constructed home-country will, can undo years of estate planning at home.<\/p>\n\n

The fix is not complicated, but it has to be deliberate. Each will should:<\/p>\n\n