Usufruct contract with your Thai spouse

Source: Thai Laws pertaining to the right of usufruct

Quality right of usufruct contracts in Thai and English drafted online by specialist Thai usufruct lawyers

If your Thai spouse owns a property in Thailand and you want to retain the use of the property after your spouse dies, you could consider setting up a Thai usufruct contract. When you registered the property in your Thai spouse's name during your marriage you may have considered creating a form of personal protection in the form of a usufruct. However, you may not be familiar with the right of usufruct in Thailand as it is a typical civil law property right. You may also not be aware what the rights and obligations of a right of usufruct are.

Usufruct of an immovable property is primarily the right to use the real estate property. This means you can live in the house and you can for example rent it out and keep the rent. The usufruct does not give the right to sell the property nor does it gives the title to the property. The usufruct comes to an end at the end of the agreed period or at death of the person granted the right of usufruct.

Whether the usufruct is given for a period of time of up to 30 years or for the life of a person, in any case, the usufruct comes to an end on the death of the person granted the right of usufruct. A usufruct is a life interest in the real property.

A usufruct could be given to more than 1 person at the time. Right of usufruct in Thailand is usually a way to protect a foreign spouse in case the property is registered in the Thai spouse's name. It enables the foreign spouse to use the property should the Thai spouse predecease the foreign spouse, and the Thai spouse leaves the ownership of the property for example to the couple's children, if of Thai nationality. This way the foreign spouse has the right to use the property for the rest of his life. Upon the death of the surviving spouse the usufruct ends.

The usufructuary is not allowed to sell the property during his right of usufruct without agreement of the registered owner of the property. The usufructuary under Thai Law has the obligation to maintain the property and take normal care of the property. If the usufructuary fails to do so and the property would lose value and become in a poor state of repair the owner has the right to terminate the right of usufruct. The usufructuary is liable for loss of value or destruction of the property unless he can proof that damages are not caused by his fault.

The creation of a usufruct could in certain circumstances be an effective option to protect a foreign spouse during his marriage in Thailand and upon death of his or her Thai spouse, however in some case a usufruct is not the best option under Thai law.