Should I Get Living Will Notoized In Thailand?

[gawguy]

(I swear I wrote this yesterday...somehow it didn't get here.)

 

I filled out a Living Will form from BKK Hosp, Pattaya. I'm appointing my sister in the USA to make medical decisions in case I can't. The form calls for witnesses and we're going to sign this off in USA and I'll turn it in to the hospital soon.

 

I'm wondering if I should have another copy notarized in Pattaya to give it more authority than a bunch of people signing and witnessing in the USA?

 

Does anyone have experience or an educated guess?

 

Thanks,

Gaw Guy

[sayjann]

(I swear I wrote this yesterday...somehow it didn't get here.)

 

I filled out a Living Will form from BKK Hosp, Pattaya. I'm appointing my sister in the USA to make medical decisions in case I can't. The form calls for witnesses and we're going to sign this off in USA and I'll turn it in to the hospital soon.

 

I'm wondering if I should have another copy notarized in Pattaya to give it more authority than a bunch of people signing and witnessing in the USA?

 

Does anyone have experience or an educated guess?

 

Thanks,

Gaw Guy

a little bit different to you but i want to make a living will.

there is only one relative i want to leave all my things to but if they go before me then i went to a lawyer and named someome else.

had a few problems because the other people i wish to leave all my stuff live in Spain so difficult to get everyone together and sign all the papers.

but i have other good friends who have respected my wishes and signed papers in front of the lawyer and everything is now official.

but it took a long time and many conversations to get my living will officially recognised.

not that i've got much to leave...............

[TheCorinthian]

(I swear I wrote this yesterday...somehow it didn't get here.)

 

I filled out a Living Will form from BKK Hosp, Pattaya. I'm appointing my sister in the USA to make medical decisions in case I can't. The form calls for witnesses and we're going to sign this off in USA and I'll turn it in to the hospital soon.

 

I'm wondering if I should have another copy notarized in Pattaya to give it more authority than a bunch of people signing and witnessing in the USA?

 

Does anyone have experience or an educated guess?

 

Thanks,

Gaw Guy

 

Biggest question is, where is the stuff you want to leave people? And is it important enough that they would come to LOS to get it? Would the value to them be worth the customs fees for it to be shipped?? Who would you trust to actually ship it and can they pay the fee in LOS to do so...?

 

For example, say you want to leave your $10,000 rolex to your sister in the US. If you think your thai brother in law will actually send it then you may well have another thing coming. If you expect the hospital to send it after you die, good luck!

 

So for a living will, if you are married in LOS, the wife may have overriding rights. Get the number of a lawyer from the embassy and ask him/her.

[cavanami]

Often, copies of a will/last wishes are left with:

 

- your personal doctor

- your lawyer

- relatives

- friends

 

...if you have some of the above people, if they are reliable, etc.

 

I have been in situations where no such documents existed and it was tough, as I was not even a family member/relative, so no legal standing.

 

At the time, I did contact the US Embassy and they checked in to this persons background, trying to find relatives and the best they came up with was when he applied for his passport, he had a friend in the USA listed, which proved to be helpful, but not what was needed at the time.

(Kudos to the US Embassy, as they really helped out).

 

Once this person came around, he signed a Power of Attorney, appointing me for certain tasks. The "Colonel" from JUSMAG went to the hospital, with two witnesses and notarized the POA.

(Big thanks to JUSMAG!).

 

After all this, I went to the USA to settle some banking matters for this individual and the bank refused to accept the POA, as it ..."wasn't on the bank's POA form"...WTF????

 

...so, no easy answer....

[gawguy]

Often, copies of a will/last wishes are left with:

 

- your personal doctor

- your lawyer

- relatives

- friends

 

...if you have some of the above people, if they are reliable, etc.

 

I have been in situations where no such documents existed and it was tough, as I was not even a family member/relative, so no legal standing.

 

At the time, I did contact the US Embassy and they checked in to this persons background, trying to find relatives and the best they came up with was when he applied for his passport, he had a friend in the USA listed, which proved to be helpful, but not what was needed at the time.

(Kudos to the US Embassy, as they really helped out).

 

Once this person came around, he signed a Power of Attorney, appointing me for certain tasks. The "Colonel" from JUSMAG went to the hospital, with two witnesses and notarized the POA.

(Big thanks to JUSMAG!).

 

After all this, I went to the USA to settle some banking matters for this individual and the bank refused to accept the POA, as it ..."wasn't on the bank's POA form"...WTF????

 

...so, no easy answer....

I appreciate the responses, but they miss the point a bit. In the original post I said "Living Will." This is not about leaving anything. This is about appointing a relative to make health care decisions if I am incompetent. It is filled out on a form supplied by the BKK Hospital in Pattaya. What I was asking is would it be more certain to have authority if I had my signature on it notarized in LOS.

 

But the responses were interesting and I got some good ideas from them.

 

Any more??

 

Thanks,

GG

[Gadfly]

I appreciate the responses, but they miss the point a bit. In the original post I said "Living Will." This is not about leaving anything. This is about appointing a relative to make health care decisions if I am incompetent. It is filled out on a form supplied by the BKK Hospital in Pattaya. What I was asking is would it be more certain to have authority if I had my signature on it notarized in LOS.

 

But the responses were interesting and I got some good ideas from them.

 

Any more??

 

Thanks,

GG

 

"What I was asking is would it be more certain to have authority if I had my signature on it notarized in LOS."

 

If you are thinking of having a document notarized by a "Thai notary" you need to understand that notwithstanding the ads by Thais holding themselves our as "Thai notaries", Thai law does not provide for Thai notaries. In other words, there is no such thing as a Thai notary.

 

A bit of background: About six or so years ago, the Thai Parliament was considering passing a law that would create Thai notaries, set out regulations governing Thai notaries, etc. But the law never passed. While the Parliament was considering this law, however, the Thai Law Society passed prepared regulations, a course and a test that members of the Thai Law Society could take to become notaries. Some members of the Thai Law Society took the test, were issued certificates and seals, but the law that will allow them to act as Thai notaries never passed.

 

Thai authorities will not accept a document notarized by a "Thai notary". A Thai notarization is meaningless as far as the Thai government is concerned. Some foreign governments - if they don't know better - might accept them. When they do so, they are wrongly assuming that the document has been authenticated by a method sanctioned and regulated by the Thai government. But that is not true at all. If they learn the truth after the document has been presented to them, not sure what they will do.

 

Unfortunately, the embassies remain the only means of properly authenticating documents in Thailand. If you press a Thai lawyer on this - even some who offer notarial services - and ask them specifically if there is a law (not a rule by the law society) that provides for Thai notaries, the honest ones will admit there is no such law. If they don't provide a clear answer, are evasive or claim there is such a law, insist on seeing a copy of the law (even in Thai) or, if you can't read Thai, ask for the year that this "law" was enacted, and post it here. I'd love to see this.

 

This is actually ver useful because it can serve as a litmus test on how honest your Thai lawyer is. Or at least how well he understands Thai law.

[Gadfly]

I appreciate the responses, but they miss the point a bit. In the original post I said "Living Will." This is not about leaving anything. This is about appointing a relative to make health care decisions if I am incompetent. It is filled out on a form supplied by the BKK Hospital in Pattaya. What I was asking is would it be more certain to have authority if I had my signature on it notarized in LOS.

 

But the responses were interesting and I got some good ideas from them.

 

Any more??

 

Thanks,

GG

 

"What I was asking is would it be more certain to have authority if I had my signature on it notarized in LOS." If you are thinking of having a document notarized by a "Thai notary" you need to understand that, notwithstanding the ads by Thais holding themselves our as "Thai notaries". Thai law does not provide for Thai notaries. In other words, there is no such thing as a Thai notary.

 

The truth is more complicated. About six or so years ago, the Thai Parliament was considering passing a law that would create Thai notaries, provide for regulations governing Thai notaries, etc. But that law never passed. Instead, while the Thai Parliament was considering this law the Thai Law Society drafted regulations, a course and a test that Thai lawyers could take to become notaries. They assumed the legislature would adopt their regulations. Some members of the Thai Law Society took the test, passed and were issued certificates and seals. But the law never passed.

 

Thai authorities will not accept a document notarized by a "Thai notary". A Thai notarization is meaningless as far as the Thai government is concerned. Some foreign governments - if they don't know better - might accept them. They wrongly assume that the document has been authenticated by a method sanctioned and regulated by the Thai government. But that is not true at all. If they learn the truth after the document has been presented to them, not sure what they would do.

 

Unfortunately, the embassies remain the only means of properly authenticating documents in Thailand. If you press a Thai lawyer on this - even some who offer notarial services - and ask them specifically if there is a law (not some rule by the law society, but a law) that provides for Thai notaries, the honest ones will admit there is no such law. If they don't provide a clear answer, are evasive or claim there is such a law, insist on seeing a copy of the law (even if its in Thai) or, if you can't read Thai, ask for the year that this "law" was enacted, and post it here.

 

This is actually very useful because it can serve as a litmus test on how honest your Thai lawyer is. Or at least how well he understands Thai law.