Section 1600
Statutory text (Thai original)
ภายใต้บังคับของบทบัญญัติแห่งประมวลกฎหมายนี้ กองมรดกของผู้ตายได้แก่ทรัพย์สินทุกชนิดของผู้ตาย ตลอดทั้งสิทธิหน้าที่และความรับผิดต่าง ๆ เว้นแต่ตามกฎหมายหรือว่าโดยสภาพแล้ว เป็นการเฉพาะตัวของผู้ตายโดยแท้
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
คำแปลภาษาอังกฤษ
Subject to the provisions of this Code, the estate of a deceased includes his properties of every kind, as well as his rights, duties and liabilities, except those which by law or by their nature are purely personal to him.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified — always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 1600 is part of Book 6 (Succession) of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code. This entry is awaiting firm-authored commentary; the statutory text above is verbatim from the Office of the Council of State (OCS Krisdika) Thai source, with the English translation from the FAO/UN FAOLEX repository. Always rely on the Thai original for legal proceedings.
Why this matters in practice
For lawyers: debts of the deceased pass with the estate; creditors may sue the heirs collectively in their capacity as the estate (§1737). Rights and duties purely personal to the deceased — such as a personal service contract, a personal licence, or a pension payable only during the lifetime of the recipient — do not form part of the estate. Compensation payments that arise only upon death (e.g., life insurance proceeds payable to the estate) are also not part of the pre-death marital property. For clients: heirs inherit both the benefits and the burdens; check for outstanding loans, guarantees, and tax obligations before accepting.
Legislative history
Part of the original Civil and Commercial Code codification; no major subsequent amendment. The section is the definitional complement to §1599: §1599 identifies who receives the estate; §1600 defines what the estate contains.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
-
Supreme Court Judgment No. 1473/2542 (1999)
An heir inherits the deceased's contractual duties under §1600, including a duty to give consent required by an agreement made before death.
The deceased and the plaintiff had agreed that on either party's death the survivor would need the other's heirs' consent to withdraw jointly held bank deposits. When the deceased died, the defendant as heir stepped into the deceased's rights and duties under §1600 and was therefore obliged to give consent for the plaintiff to withdraw the plaintiff's own share of the deposits.
-
Supreme Court Judgment No. 4714/2542 (1999)
Rights that arise only as a consequence of death are not pre-existing property of the deceased and do not form part of the estate under §1600.
The court held that marital property under §1470 refers to property existing while the marriage subsists. A severance payment arising from and received after the deceased's death was not marital property, and §1600, which covers property of every kind, also does not encompass a right that arose only because of the death itself rather than as a pre-existing right of the deceased.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in a deceased person's estate in Thailand?
The estate includes all property of every kind — land, buildings, bank accounts, investments, vehicles, business interests — as well as all rights (such as contractual claims), duties (such as obligations under contracts), and liabilities (such as loans and guarantees). Excluded are rights and duties that are purely personal: for example, a personal employment contract, a licence to practice a profession, or pension payments limited to the lifetime of the holder.