Your foreign will doesn't govern your Thai villa: the Conflict of Laws Act's lex situs rule

If you write a will at home naming your children as heirs to your Koh Phangan villa, does that will control who inherits it? Only partly. Under Section 37 of Thailand's Act on Conflict of Laws B.E. 2481 (1938), succession of immovable property — land, a house, a condo unit — located in Thailand is governed exclusively by Thai law, the law of the place where the property sits (the *lex situs* rule), regardless of where the deceased was domiciled or which country's law their will names. This sits alongside the five legal forms of a Thai will and the statutory-heir order that applies without one — this guide answers a different, earlier question: whose law even applies, and why a foreign court's ruling doesn't simply carry over.

The lex situs rule: Section 37 vs Section 38

• Section 37 (immovable property) — "As far as succession concerns immovable property, the law of the place where such property is situated shall govern." For a villa, land or condo unit sitting in Thailand, that means Thai succession law applies in full, no matter the deceased's nationality.
• Section 38 (movable property), by contrast — "succession... is governed by the law of domicile of the deceased at the time of his death." Cash, vehicles, furniture and other movables can still follow the deceased's home-country law.
• The practical effect — a will drafted under, say, English or Australian law, with an explicit choice-of-law clause naming that law, cannot override Thai succession rules for the Thai real estate itself. Thailand isn't party to an international convention that would force recognition of a foreign choice-of-law clause over land situated here.

A foreign will still counts as evidence — a foreign court order does not, on its own

A will written abroad naming a beneficiary for the Thai property isn't invalid: Thai courts will treat a validly executed foreign will as evidence of the deceased's wishes. What doesn't carry over automatically is a foreign court's probate grant or letters of administration — Thai Land Offices and the Condominium Registry don't recognise a foreign court's order as authority to transfer title. Heirs still need a Thai court to appoint an estate administrator through an independent Thai proceeding, using the foreign will and any foreign grant as supporting evidence rather than a ruling the Land Office simply honours.

Why this adds time, not just paperwork

In practice this means legalising and translating the foreign will (and any foreign grant of probate), then opening a new Thai court petition essentially from scratch — the same process covered in the estate-administrator guide, run in parallel with, not instead of, whatever happened at home. An estate that might have settled in a few months in the deceased's home country can stretch well past a year in Thailand, particularly if an heir is abroad, a minor, or the estate is contested. If the property being inherited is land itself (not a condo unit) and the heir is a foreigner, the separate Section 93 disposal clock runs on top of this process, not instead of it.

What this means for your estate planning now

• Write a Thailand-specific will covering the Thai property alone, separate from a home-country will covering everything else — it narrows what needs legalising and translating, and avoids two wills giving conflicting instructions over the same asset.
• Name an executor who can realistically act in Thailand — either by attending a Thai court petition in person or granting power of attorney to a Thai lawyer, which currently still requires consular legalisation abroad (see the Power of Attorney legalisation guide).
• Don't assume a foreign structure fixes this — a foreign choice-of-law clause, an offshore trust, or a foreign court's ruling has no automatic effect on Thai-situated land; see also why an offshore family trust can't hold Thai land.

The underlying point is simple even if the mechanics aren't: wherever you're from, and whatever your home will says, Thai law decides who inherits Thai land — and a Thai court, not a foreign one, is what actually moves the title. Planning around that from the start is far cheaper than discovering it after a death, mid-estate.