KOH SAMUI – The inheritance of a French woman to her Thai housekeeper reveals legal issues for foreigners doing business in Thailand.
The case of a French businesswoman, Madame Catherine, 59, who committed suicide by shooting herself and left her fortune, including a luxurious villa on Koh Samui in Surat Thani Province to her Thai housekeeper, known as “Pa Tim,” in her will, reveals the legal limitations in Thailand that affect foreigners.
The French woman’s intention to leave her inheritance to someone she trusted seems to be difficult in practice unless there is cooperation from the Thais who hold shares in Madame Catherine’s company.
According to the police investigation, Madame Catherine registered a legal entity on April 19, 2012, named G.V.N.E Co., Ltd., located at Moo 2, Tambon Mae Nam, Koh Samui District, Surat Thani Province. The business type is 55101, hotels, resorts, and apartments, to operate rental accommodations, resorts, bungalows, and vacation homes. The registered capital is 2 million baht, divided into 20,000 shares.
Madame Catherine held 49% of the shares (9,800 shares) in accordance with Thai law, which stipulates that foreigners can own no more than 49% of real estate in the kingdom.
The other two Thai shareholders are Mr. Thongsai from Tan Sum District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, a businessman who holds 35% (7,000 shares), and Ms. Ratchaprapa from Cha-uat District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, a businesswoman who holds 16% (3,200 shares).
Mr. Ratchaporn Poolsawat, president of the Koh Samui Tourism Promotion Association, commented based on his experience with foreigners investing in Samui and facing problems. He said that the shareholding proportion in Madame Catherine’s company might be a problem in the future regarding how the assets will be transferred to Pa Tim without the consent of the company’s partners.
“The nominee problem in foreign investment in Koh Samui is that many investors do not understand Thai law. Especially after the Russia-Ukraine war, Russian investors brought a lot of money to invest in buying real estate but still do not understand the law, causing problems,” Mr. Ratchaporn said.
He also said that this affects local investors in Koh Samui who do everything correctly according to the law and pay taxes correctly. But the nominee groups do not pay taxes to the state and do not proceed correctly according to the law. Some foreign investors do business without knowing Thai law.
In addition, some were deceived by some law firms and accounting firms in processing documents to comply with Thai law. Some had invested more than 100 million baht and eventually were arrested and prosecuted, so he felt very sorry for this group of investors.
“I would like to call on the government to investigate because if left unchecked, it will become a double-edged sword, causing damage to Koh Samui’s tourism,” Ratchaporn said.
He also said that the Koh Samui Tourism Association is ready to be a mediator in coordinating between investors and government agencies, especially the Revenue Department, Immigration Police, or local authorities, to publicize in foreign languages, especially English, Russian, and Chinese, or organize workshops for foreign investors to understand Thai law.
Pol. Col. Krairit Ngamsri-on, superintendent of Koh Samui police station, said that in the case of Madame Catherine, it is expected that the authorized attorney will have to file a lawsuit with the court to obtain a court order to the estate administrator and proceed with the distribution of the inheritance according to the will. Within 30 days, if there is a dispute, the interested parties can proceed directly to the court without going through the police officers.
_____
Related article:
Thai Housekeeper Inherits $2.7million and 3 Cats from French Woman in Koh Samui
