Can My Children Inherit My Thai Condo?

Yes. A foreign-owned freehold condominium in Thailand can be inherited by your heirs, under a will or as statutory heirs, and the unit’s value passes to them either way. The detail that matters is what happens next: whether your heir can keep the unit registered in their own name, or must sell it and keep the proceeds instead. That turns on whether the heir qualifies for foreign ownership under the Condominium Act, and it is entirely manageable with a small amount of planning.

How it works

Foreign ownership of a condominium unit is a personal right under Section 19 of the Condominium Act. It does not automatically transfer with the unit, so an heir who inherits must qualify for foreign ownership in their own right in order to register the unit in their name, and the building’s 49 percent foreign quota must still have room for them.

Heirs who hold Thai permanent residence, or who reside in Thailand under investment promotion law, can generally register ownership of the inherited unit provided the quota allows it. Most heirs of the buyers I work with do not fall into those categories; they are adult children living abroad. An heir in that position must notify the authorities in writing within 60 days of acquiring the unit, and then has one year from acquisition to deal with it: either establish their own qualification for foreign ownership, or sell.

What “sell within a year” actually means

This is the part that sounds alarming and is not. Disposal is a sale at whatever price the market pays, and the proceeds belong to your heir. Nothing is confiscated and no value is lost to the rule itself; the estate simply converts from a unit into money if the heir cannot, or does not want to, hold the unit themselves. For many heirs living overseas, selling is what they would have chosen anyway. The one-year window exists to make that orderly rather than optional.

Where an heir wants to keep the unit, that intention is exactly what estate planning is for, and the right structure depends on their circumstances. This is a conversation to have with a Thai lawyer while you are alive rather than one your heirs have under a deadline.

The two things worth doing now

First, make a Thai will covering your Thai assets. Your foreign will can reach your Thai condo in principle, but probate through a Thai court with a foreign will is slower and more expensive, and Thai intestacy rules decide everything if there is no will at all. A simple Thai will naming your heirs and an executor is inexpensive and removes most of the friction from the process your family would otherwise face.

Second, keep your ownership paperwork together and findable: the title deed, the foreign exchange documentation from your original purchase, and the will itself. The Land Department process your heirs will go through is document-driven, and a well-organised file is the difference between months and years.

A note of scope: this answer covers freehold condominium units. Leasehold is a different instrument with different succession rules, and if part of your Phuket holding sits on a lease, that deserves its own advice.

I am not a lawyer and this is general information rather than legal advice; wills, probate, and ownership registration belong with a Thai lawyer, and I am glad to introduce you to ones I trust. If you are buying with the next generation in mind and want the structure thought through from the start, get in touch.