Inheritance is one of the most under-asked questions in the Thai foreign-buyer process and one of the highest-stakes when it goes wrong. The structure that works fine while you are alive — a Thai-company-held villa, a leasehold without heir clauses, an unwilled condo — can leave your heirs with a forced sale, a court fight, or a disposal scramble. This article covers what actually happens to Thai property when a foreign owner dies, organized by what was owned.
What happens to my Thai condo when I die?
A foreigner-owned freehold condo passes to heirs under the will or by intestate succession, the same as any other asset — this is the cleanest inheritance case in Thai property law.
With the foreign quota open at the time of inheritance: the heir registers the inheritance with the Land Office and pays the applicable inheritance transfer fees, and the unit is theirs. Foreign heirs are treated the same as the deceased — they can hold, rent, or sell the unit.
With the foreign quota full at the time of inheritance: the heir has inherited the right to the unit but must dispose of it because the building cannot lawfully count another foreign-owned unit. The Land Office will record the inheritance but flag the unit for disposal. The Condominium Act requires the heir to notify the Land Office in writing within 60 days of acquiring the unit and to dispose of it within one year; if the heir misses that deadline, the Director-General of the Land Department can force the sale. The heir keeps the sale proceeds.
Thai heirs are unaffected by the quota and keep the unit regardless.
Does a leasehold pass to my heirs when I die?
A registered 30-year lease passes to the lessee’s heirs for the remainder of the term as an asset of the estate, provided the contract makes that explicit. Section 569 of the Civil and Commercial Code provides that a lease of immovable property is not extinguished by transfer of the property’s ownership, and the prevailing practitioner view — also reflected in our 30-year Thai lease: renewal is not guaranteed. The Land Office will not register 90 years today article — is that the registered lease survives the lessee’s death and is inheritable as a contract right of the estate.
The narrow contrary view, supported by some older Supreme Court decisions treating leases as personal contracts of the lessee, holds that leases extinguish on death unless the contract expressly provides for inheritance. Reputable Thai law firms have addressed this uncertainty for decades by drafting an explicit heir-substitution clause into every long-lease contract, stating that on the lessee’s death the lease passes to named heirs for the remainder of the term. With the clause present, inheritance is uncontroversial; without it, heirs may face an argument from the lessor’s side, especially if the relationship has soured or the underlying land has gained materially in value.
Practical checklist for leasehold buyers:
- Confirm the lease contract includes an explicit heir-substitution clause naming heirs by relationship class (“the Lessee’s heirs at law and devisees”) rather than by name (which goes stale on remarriage or new children).
- Note that heirs cannot renew the lease at the end of the initial 30-year term as a contractual right — see the 2025 Supreme Court guidance summarized in 30-year Thai lease: renewal is not guaranteed. The Land Office will not register 90 years today. The renewal cap is the same for heirs as for the original lessee.
- Stack the lease with a registered superficies on any building — the superficies gives separate, transferable, inheritable rights to the structure regardless of how the lease question is resolved. See Usufruct, superficies, habitation — alternative real rights for foreigners in Thailand.
The pre-purchase legal review on a leasehold villa should specifically verify the heir-substitution clause is present and worded broadly.
What happens to a Thai company-held villa when the foreign owner dies?
The shares pass to heirs under the foreign owner’s will or intestate succession, not the property itself — a company-held villa is inherited as company shares, not real estate. The foreigner held some percentage of the company shares (typically 49% directly, with preference-share structures controlling the Thai-majority shares); on death, those shares are what transfers.
Two layers of problems follow:
Inheriting preference shares does not survive scrutiny. If the Thai-majority shareholding was nominee from the start (the 2024-2025 enforcement landscape — see Can a foreign holding company own property in Thailand?), inheriting the foreigner’s preference shares into a foreign heir’s name turns the structure into an even more visible nominee arrangement. Heirs typically face the same restructuring decision the original owner should have faced: convert to leasehold-plus-superficies, dissolve the company, or accept ongoing enforcement risk.
Foreign-heir share ownership above the 49% threshold triggers the Foreign Business Act. If the original Thai-shareholder block also dies or transfers shares such that foreign shareholding exceeds 49%, the company becomes “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act and the land-ownership exemption falls away, requiring the company to dispose of the land.
The clean exit, both for the original owner and for the heirs, is to restructure out of the company before death — doing it after death is procedurally harder.
What happens when a foreigner inherits Thai land directly?
A foreign heir does not automatically keep inherited Thai land — Section 93 of the Land Code requires the heir to apply for permission to retain it, and if that permission is not obtained or is refused, the land must be disposed of within one year of registering the inheritance. This is the most consequential rule in this article, and it applies most commonly when a foreign spouse inherits land their Thai-national spouse owned.
The one-year disposal rule. If permission is not obtained, disposal can be by sale to a Thai national, gift to Thai-citizen children, or transfer into a leasehold arrangement where the underlying ownership goes to a Thai owner. If the heir does not dispose within the year, the Director-General of the Land Department has authority to force the sale and remit the proceeds to the heir.
The common scenario: foreign spouse of a Thai landowner. When the Thai spouse dies, the foreigner inherits the land under Thai intestate succession (or under a Thai will), and Section 93 then applies — retention is not automatic. If Land Office permission is not obtained, typical solutions are:
- Transfer the land to the couple’s Thai-citizen children (if any) and stay on as a long-term lessee with a registered superficies on the house. This is the most common path.
- Sell to a Thai national third party and use the proceeds for a replacement leasehold property.
- Transfer to a properly-formed Thai company with genuine Thai shareholders — high risk in the current enforcement environment, generally not recommended.
The planning move is to set this up before death, not after. A pre-arranged superficies, usufruct, or lease in the foreign spouse’s name on the Thai-owned land secures the foreigner’s right of occupation regardless of who eventually inherits the land — see Usufruct, superficies, habitation — alternative real rights for foreigners in Thailand and Buying property in Thailand via a Thai spouse — what's actually allowed for the protection structure and what it covers before this Section 93 process ever starts.
Which property rights survive sale, divorce, or death in Thailand?
A registered lease, usufruct, superficies, or habitation right survives a sale, a divorce, or a death, because each is recorded directly on the land title deed rather than tied to who currently owns the property. A subsequent buyer takes the land subject to these rights, a divorce court cannot terminate them, and the original owner’s heirs inherit the land subject to them too.
This is the mechanism behind most of the protection strategies elsewhere in this article: a foreign heir who cannot retain inherited land outright can still hold a registered usufruct or superficies on it, and a foreign spouse who has no ownership claim on land bought by a Thai spouse can hold the same registered rights independent of the marriage or the underlying owner’s death. What does not survive automatically is any unregistered or informal arrangement — a verbal understanding with a Thai spouse’s family, or an unregistered lease, has no standing against an heir, a buyer, or a court. See Usufruct, superficies, habitation — alternative real rights for foreigners in Thailand for how each right is registered and what it covers.
Do I need a Thai will for my Thai property?
Yes — a separate Thai will covering only your Thai assets is the cleanest path, because it avoids putting your heirs through Thailand’s recognition process for foreign wills. Thailand recognizes valid foreign wills, but a foreign will covering Thai assets must be translated into Thai by a certified translator, authenticated by the relevant foreign authority (apostille or consular legalization), and presented to a Thai court for recognition before any Thai registry will act on it.
A separate Thai will covering only your Thai assets bypasses this entirely. A bilingual Thai will, drafted by a Thai law firm and executed in front of two adult witnesses in Thailand (Civil and Commercial Code Section 1656), is recognized directly by Thai courts and probate proceeds without the foreign-recognition step.
A Thai will does not invalidate your home-country will as long as the Thai will is clearly limited to Thai assets (standard practice is to include language like “this will applies solely to my assets located within the Kingdom of Thailand”). Your home-country will continues to govern all assets outside Thailand.
Does Thailand have an inheritance tax on foreign-owned property?
Yes — Thailand has had an inheritance tax since 2016 under the Inheritance Tax Act B.E. 2558, and it applies to foreign heirs on Thai-situs assets the same as it applies to Thai-national heirs. The 2026 thresholds:
- Threshold: estates above THB 100M total Thai-situs value
- Rate: 5% for descendants and ascendants, 10% for everyone else
For most foreign-owned Phuket properties, the THB 100M threshold means inheritance tax does not apply in practice. For substantial estates (multi-villa portfolios, large Bangkok developments), the 5-10% Thai tax stacks on top of any home-country inheritance or estate tax — Thailand’s estate-tax treaty network is limited, so foreign heirs may face double taxation in some jurisdictions.
What should I do now to prepare my Thai property for inheritance?
The single highest-leverage step is a Thai-specific bilingual will covering your Thai assets, executed in Thailand with two witnesses — everything else in this checklist supports that or closes a gap it doesn’t cover:
- Thai-specific bilingual will covering Thai assets, executed in Thailand with two witnesses
- For leasehold villas: heir-substitution clause in the lease contract
- For Thai-company-held villas: restructure to leasehold-plus-superficies before death, not after
- For foreign spouses of Thai landowners: register a usufruct, superficies, or long lease in your name on the Thai-owned land
- Up-to-date list of Thai assets and the law firm holding the relevant documents
- Named Thai-resident executor with authority to act locally
