Thailand is home to one of the largest communities of British retirees in Asia. From the temples of Chiang Mai to the beaches of Phuket and the buzz of Bangkok, tens of thousands of UK nationals have made the Kingdom their permanent or semi-permanent home. Many arrived for the warm climate, low cost of living, and welcoming culture — and stayed for decades.
But living in Thailand long-term creates serious estate planning complications. The country has strict rules about who can own land, a succession system rooted in the Civil and Commercial Code that differs fundamentally from English law, and a tax treaty structure that leaves most British expats fully exposed to UK inheritance tax (IHT) even after years abroad. If you die in Thailand without a valid, carefully prepared will, the results can be chaotic and costly for the people you leave behind.
This guide covers everything a British expat in Thailand needs to know about wills, property, succession, and estate planning in 2026.
Before discussing wills, you need to understand the most fundamental constraint for any British expat in Thailand: foreigners cannot own freehold land in Thailand. This restriction is set out in the Land Code Act and enforced strictly. It applies to all foreign nationals regardless of how long they have lived in Thailand.
What you can own outright includes:
When it comes to land itself, British expats typically use one of these structures:
The structure you use for your property directly affects what happens when you die and what your will can actually transfer. A usufruct dies with you. A leasehold can be inherited. A condo unit can be devised to heirs. Understanding this is the starting point for any Thai estate plan.
Thai inheritance is governed by Books V and VI of the Civil and Commercial Code (ประมวลกฎหมายแพ่งและพาณิชย์). The Code establishes six statutory classes of heir who inherit in order of priority when there is no will, or when a will does not cover all assets:
A surviving spouse is a statutory heir alongside whichever class is present. If the deceased leaves children, the spouse shares equally with the children. If there are no children, the spouse takes half and the parents take the other half. If there are no parents, the spouse inherits the entire estate.
Unlike French or Spanish law, Thai law does not have a rigid réserve héréditaire (forced heirship reserve) that locks away a fixed percentage for specific heirs. However, you cannot completely disinherit a spouse who has contributed to marital property (สินสมรส — sin somros), and disputes over what constitutes marital versus personal property are common in Thai inheritance proceedings involving foreign nationals.
The Thai Civil and Commercial Code recognises five types of will, but in practice British expats use two:
The most common form. The will must be:
Witnesses must be adults of full legal capacity and must not be beneficiaries under the will (or spouses of beneficiaries). While notarisation is not strictly required under Thai law, having the will notarised at a Thai notarial services attorney's office or at your embassy adds significant practical protection.
Entirely handwritten, dated, and signed by the testator. No witnesses required. Simple, but more easily challenged. Not recommended for complex estates.
If your will is in English, it will need to be officially translated into Thai before Thai courts will act on it. This takes time and money. For any significant Thai assets, a bilingual Thai-English will prepared by a local lawyer is the gold standard.
This is the issue that surprises the most British expats in Thailand: leaving the UK does not automatically remove you from UK inheritance tax.
UK IHT is charged on the worldwide estate of anyone who is UK-domiciled at the rate of 40% above the nil-rate band (£325,000 in 2026, or up to £500,000 if the residence nil-rate band applies on passing a family home to direct descendants). Domicile is a legal concept distinct from residence. It broadly refers to the country you regard as your permanent home and where you intend to remain indefinitely.
Most British expats in Thailand retain a UK domicile of origin or have not taken sufficient steps to acquire a Thai domicile of choice. Under HMRC's rules, you are generally still treated as UK-domiciled until you have been non-UK resident for at least 17 of the past 20 tax years (from April 2025 under the new regime). Until that threshold is crossed, your entire worldwide estate — your Thai condo, your UK pension lump sums, your savings, your UK property — is potentially subject to UK IHT.
Thailand has no inheritance tax at the national level for amounts below ฿100 million (approximately £2.2 million) passed to lineal descendants, and no inheritance tax at all for amounts above that threshold passed to more distant relatives (a flat 10% applies). There is also no UK–Thailand double taxation agreement covering inheritance tax. This means HMRC gets the first claim on a UK-domiciled expat's worldwide estate, regardless of where the assets are held.
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Start Your Expat Will →Dying intestate (without a will) in Thailand triggers the default succession rules of the Civil and Commercial Code. For a British expat, this creates several serious problems:
List every asset you hold: your UK property, bank accounts, pensions, investments, and your Thai assets (condo, lease, bank accounts, vehicles, personal effects). Note how each asset is held and in whose name.
Consult a UK tax adviser to understand whether you are UK-domiciled and what your IHT exposure is. If you have been in Thailand for many years and intend to remain, there may be steps you can take to establish a Thai domicile of choice — but this requires careful legal advice and is not automatic.
If you have UK assets — property, bank accounts, ISAs, pensions — you need a valid UK will. This can be done with an online will service such as LegalWills.co.uk or through a UK solicitor. Keep it updated as your circumstances change.
For your Thai condo, lease, and bank accounts, a separate Thai will — prepared by a Thai lawyer, in both Thai and English, witnessed and notarised — provides the fastest and most reliable route to asset transfer. The two wills should clearly delineate which governs which assets to avoid conflicts.
For expats managing assets across borders, ExpatLegalWills provides a structured, internationally-focused will-drafting service designed specifically for people in your situation. It helps you think through the cross-border elements systematically before you consult local lawyers.
Name a Thai-resident executor (or a trusted Thai-based lawyer) who can deal with Thai courts, the Land Department, and Thai banks without needing to travel from the UK. This is often overlooked but critically important for practical estate administration.
Inform your Thai bank of your will arrangements (some banks keep a copy). Ensure your UK bank, pension provider, and investment platforms have up-to-date beneficiary nominations and know that you live abroad.
Don't leave your Thai condo and UK assets in legal limbo. ExpatLegalWills makes it easy to create a cross-border will that works for both countries.
Get Started — ExpatLegalWills →The estate planning picture varies slightly depending on where in Thailand you live:
Chiang Mai — Popular with long-term retirees and digital nomads. Many expats have held 30-year leases on houses in the surrounding countryside for decades. These leases require specific provisions in your will and careful coordination with local land offices.
Phuket — Heavy concentration of condo ownership. Foreign quota compliance is particularly important; if a condo unit was purchased outside the foreign quota (e.g., held through a Thai company), inheritance becomes considerably more complex.
Bangkok — More complex asset structures, including business interests, investments, and multi-property portfolios. English-speaking Thai lawyers and international law firms are more readily available here than elsewhere in the country.
Thai law and UK tax law both change. The 2025 UK domicile reforms altered the IHT exposure timeline for long-term non-residents. Thai property laws are periodically debated by the government (proposals to allow longer leaseholds or even limited freehold ownership for foreigners recur every few years, though none have yet passed).
Review your will whenever any of the following change: your marital status, the arrival or death of a beneficiary, a significant change in asset values, any change in Thai property law, or a change in your UK tax residence position. At minimum, review every two to three years.