Appointing an estate administrator in Thailand

When an owner dies, the estate passes to the heirs on that day. Exercising those rights against third parties is a separate matter. A bank will not release the account to anyone, a land office will not register a transfer, and the vehicle registry will not change the registration, until a person with legal authority appears holding a court order. That person is the estate administrator.

An administrator comes from one of two sources: appointment by the deceased in a will, or appointment by court order. In practice, even where a will names someone, most institutions still ask to see a court order. An application to the court is therefore a step almost every estate goes through, and it can be started earlier than most people assume, because the heirs do not first have to agree on how the estate will be split.

Who may apply, and to which court

• An heir of the deceased, whether a statutory heir or a beneficiary under a will.
• A person with an interest in the estate, such as a co-owner of one of the assets.
• The public prosecutor, where nobody else applies.

The application goes to the court for the district where the deceased was domiciled at the time of death. Not the court where the property sits, and not the court nearest the applicant. If the deceased was not domiciled in Thailand, the application goes to the court where the estate property is located. Filing in the wrong court costs months. Who the heirs are and what each receives is covered in the article on inheritance where there is no will.

Who the law bars from the role

• A person who has not reached majority.
• A person of unsound mind, or one the court has declared quasi-incompetent.
• A person the court has adjudged bankrupt.

Beyond those bars the court also considers suitability. Where the heirs are in serious conflict, the court may appoint several administrators jointly, or a neutral outsider. Appointing several allows them to check one another, but it slows the work, because they must act together by majority and must coordinate for every dealing with an institution.

Documents to prepare

• The death certificate, and the house registration with the entry removed on account of death.
• The applicant's identity card and house registration.
• Documents proving the relationship to the deceased: marriage certificate, birth certificate, adoption registration, or certificates of change of name.
• A family tree listing every heir in order.
• Letters of consent from the other heirs, with copies of their identity cards, which shorten the hearing considerably.
• A schedule of estate assets with the supporting documents for each item: title deeds, bank passbooks, share certificates and vehicle registration books.
• The original will, if there is one.

What causes the longest delay is not the application itself but gaps in the relationship documents: a deceased who changed surname several times, older house registration records written by hand and barely legible, or an heir abroad who cannot be reached. Starting the document-gathering early matters more than filing quickly, because some government records take weeks to obtain.

Timing, and duties once appointed

The timeframe depends on the caseload of the particular court and on how complete the documents are. Once the application is filed the court sets a hearing date. If nobody objects, the hearing is usually completed in a single sitting. The order must then become final before a certified copy, together with a certificate of finality, can be produced to banks and land offices. If an heir files an objection the matter becomes contentious and takes considerably longer.

Appointment brings duties, not merely powers, and an administrator who neglects them can be personally liable.

• Begin the inventory of estate assets within fifteen days of learning of the appointment, and complete it within one month, before at least two witnesses.
• Complete the administration within one year, unless the heirs or the court extend the time.
• Collect the assets, pay the estate's debts, and only then distribute to the heirs. Distributing before the debts are paid exposes the administrator to the creditors.
• Do not use estate property for personal benefit, and do not enter a transaction in which the administrator is the counterparty, unless the will permits it or the court authorises it.

An administrator who neglects these duties can be removed on the application of an heir or another interested person, and replaced, provided the application is made before distribution of the estate is complete. Once everything has been distributed, what remains is a claim over the administration within five years. The administrator may also have to make good the loss to the estate. A claim by heirs against an administrator concerning the administration must be brought within five years of the administration ending, so an heir who suspects something is wrong should not wait too long.

This note states the general position and is not advice on your own situation. The documents each estate needs vary with the number of heirs, the type of assets and the state of the civil registration records. Send the firm a list of the assets and a family tree and it will set out which court to apply to and what to prepare.