Not a very nice subject but one I guess we all need to think about in the future
A friend of mine recently died and like so many has a shell company for his house in Hua Hin. The usual 7 share holders. He is on his own and now the family want to sell his property. The question is how ???
If he is just a share holder of the company and has no last will and testiment do his shares just simply get distributed between the other share holders ?
How complicated will it be for his family ?
House when I die
House when I die
Thats me Im on my way to luxury
The immediate heir of the deceased should present him/herself to a Thai law office with ID and the deceased's death certificate.
The deceased person's shares, and presumably, directorship of the company, are inherited by the heir and the company registration will be updated to that effect. The new director can then go ahead and the company's asset, the property, or just sell the company itself including the asset.
This is, in principle, the way it works, although confirmations from the deceased's Embassy will be required, along with translations. The Thai lawyer will conduct the process.
cd.
The deceased person's shares, and presumably, directorship of the company, are inherited by the heir and the company registration will be updated to that effect. The new director can then go ahead and the company's asset, the property, or just sell the company itself including the asset.
This is, in principle, the way it works, although confirmations from the deceased's Embassy will be required, along with translations. The Thai lawyer will conduct the process.
cd.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke).
Shares in a company can be inherited, but a directorship of a company can not. Presumably the 7 Thai shareholders were 'donated' by the office that set the company up for the deceased. My advice to the heir would be to go to this office and ask them to make the heir a director with majority voting rights. You can now have a company with only 2 Thai shareholders and one foreigner, so it might be an opportunity at this time to reduce the number of Thai shareholders.
Technically, as it stands at the moment, I believe the Thai shareholders could decide to sell the property for their own gain. I've never heard of this happening before but it is plausible. If the Thai shareholder did collude to sell the house, the heir would be entitled to a percentage of the profits in the company, but like any company, the heir would need to get permission from the other Thai shareholders to take this money out from the company. The Thai shareholders could also sell the house to a friend or relative for a pittance and the heir could do nothing to stop them.
It is also possible the shareholders do not allow the heir to become a director in which case the heir only owns a percentage of the company asset. It could all in theory get very messy but I think in reality, the shareholders will probably not even know they are shareholders of the company, or even know the director of the company has passed away.
Good Luck
Technically, as it stands at the moment, I believe the Thai shareholders could decide to sell the property for their own gain. I've never heard of this happening before but it is plausible. If the Thai shareholder did collude to sell the house, the heir would be entitled to a percentage of the profits in the company, but like any company, the heir would need to get permission from the other Thai shareholders to take this money out from the company. The Thai shareholders could also sell the house to a friend or relative for a pittance and the heir could do nothing to stop them.
It is also possible the shareholders do not allow the heir to become a director in which case the heir only owns a percentage of the company asset. It could all in theory get very messy but I think in reality, the shareholders will probably not even know they are shareholders of the company, or even know the director of the company has passed away.
Good Luck
Roundeyes,
I cannot stress this strongly enough :-
GO TO A LAWYER !
While this forum can be helpful, it more often than not clouds and confuses the issue and much of the information you will get is both scary and wrong.
cd.
I cannot stress this strongly enough :-
GO TO A LAWYER !
While this forum can be helpful, it more often than not clouds and confuses the issue and much of the information you will get is both scary and wrong.
cd.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke).
Yes - I agree with CraigDunn's post - the heir should go see a (Thai) Lawyer immediately. Having checked this out further - should a foreign director in a Thai limited company die, the shares (and thus the assets) and control in the company will not automatically transfer to the heirs. Officially a general meeting of shareholders must be called and a shareholder decision is needed to appoint a new director (in practice this shall be a paper meeting). The shares in the company of the deceased must be transferred at the Ministry of Commerce, however, without the managing authorised director able to sign it is less simple.
I have always recommended to anyone buying property by using a company to have more than one director in the company and / or someone authorised to sign on behalf of the company.
I have always recommended to anyone buying property by using a company to have more than one director in the company and / or someone authorised to sign on behalf of the company.