The court order that unfreezes a Thai bank account
Not sure where to start? Start here
Written by Greg Berryman. Sources last checked 10 August 2026.
A Thai bank freezes the account when it is told the holder has died. Nothing you hold in your hand will unfreeze it. Only a court order will.
The chart below starts from what you are holding.
Every box with an underlined heading opens the page that explains it.
What happens to a Thai bank account when someone dies?
It is frozen on notification of the death, and it stays frozen until a court appoints someone to administer the estate.
A death certificate does not release it. A will does not release it. A power of attorney signed by the account holder does not release it, because under section 826 of the Civil and Commercial Code an agency is extinguished by death. See power of attorney in Thailand.
The same applies to a joint account. Thai law does not recognise a right of survivorship on most joint accounts, so the surviving holder does not simply take the balance. That is reported by Thai law firms rather than published by a government, and it is worth putting to a lawyer if you hold one.
What is a Thai estate administrator?
The person a Thai court appoints to gather in the estate, deal with the debts, and distribute what remains. The Thai term is ผู้จัดการมรดก.
There is no separate probate court in Thailand and no grant of probate in the English sense. A provincial court appoints an administrator under section 1713, and that appointment order is the document presented to the bank, to the Land Office, and to anyone else holding an asset.
Switzerland's guidance to its own citizens puts the same point from the outside: there is no public authority in Thailand that administers a deceased person's estate. Whoever wants it dealt with has to go to court and ask.
What that person is then required to do, and by when, is on what an estate administrator has to do in Thailand.
Does having a Thai will avoid the court?
No. Naming an executor in a Thai will is a recommendation to the court. The court still has to confirm it, and the executor still cannot act on a bank account or a title record until it has.
A will decides who receives what. The court decides who is allowed to go and get it. What a will does and does not reach is on wills in Thailand, and which country's law applies.
Who can ask a Thai court to appoint an administrator?
Under section 1711 an interested party petitions the court: the executor named in the will, an heir, or a creditor.
An unmarried partner is none of those three unless the will made them a beneficiary, and so cannot start the process that releases the money. See who can legally act.
What if nobody applies to the court?
Nothing happens.
There is no Thai authority that steps in and administers an estate because no one else has. The Swiss guidance quoted above is describing exactly that. An account with nobody willing or entitled to petition stays frozen, a condominium stays in a dead person's name, and the position does not improve with time.
Three practical consequences. A creditor may petition, so the first person to move is sometimes a bank or a landlord rather than the family. Heirs abroad who have never been told about the Thai assets cannot petition for something they do not know exists, which is the argument for writing down what you hold and where. And a partner with no standing can do nothing but reach whoever does have it.
Whether an estate in that position is ever dealt with by anybody, and what becomes of the assets, is unresolved. It is a question for a Thai lawyer.
What does a Thai estate administration cost?
Nobody publishes a reliable figure.
It is a court proceeding, in Thai, run in practice by a Thai lawyer, so the cost is that lawyer's fee plus court fees, plus the translation and legalisation of every foreign document described below. The law firm commentary that quotes a figure does not agree with itself.
Ask two or three Thai firms for a written quote rather than relying on a number from a website. Ask what is included, what the translation and legalisation are expected to come to, and what happens to the fee if the application is contested.
The cost falls due while the money that would pay it is still frozen, which is the same trap as the funeral.
Who inherits in Thailand if there is no will?
Section 1629 sets six classes of statutory heir in a fixed order: descendants, parents, full siblings, half siblings, grandparents, then uncles and aunts. A higher class excludes every lower one entirely, so if anyone survives in the first class, the classes below it take nothing.
A surviving spouse sits outside the six classes and shares alongside whichever class qualifies, under section 1635.
Those classes do not necessarily govern the whole estate. Under the Act on Conflict of Laws, succession to land or a condominium here follows Thai law because the property is here, section 37, while succession to movable property follows the law of the country the deceased was domiciled in at death, section 38. Where that is not Thailand, the home country's intestacy rules govern the bank account and the possessions. Which law reaches which asset is on wills in Thailand, and which country's law applies.
In a Thai court that distinction has to be argued and paid for. Section 8 of the same Act provides that where the foreign law is not proved to the court's satisfaction, Thai law applies instead, and proving it means expert evidence, translated, at somebody's expense.
What share does a surviving spouse take in Thailand?
Where the couple were married, half of the marital property belongs to the surviving spouse already, and only the deceased's half forms the estate. The spouse then takes a share of that estate alongside the statutory heirs.
| Who the spouse shares the estate with | Reported share to the spouse |
|---|---|
| Children of the deceased | An equal share with each child |
| Parents or full siblings of the deceased | Half of the estate |
| Half siblings, grandparents, uncles or aunts | Two thirds of the estate |
| No other statutory heir at all | The whole estate |
These proportions are as reported by Thai law firms and have not been confirmed against the Code by a Thai lawyer. They are given so a reader knows the shape of the answer and what to ask about. Do not plan around the exact fractions.
An unmarried partner inherits nothing under Thai law, however long the relationship ran, because Thai law does not recognise cohabitation or common law marriage. What that means in practice, and what the home country's law may do with the movable property, is on what happens to your partner.
How long does it take to unfreeze a Thai bank account?
Months, on every reported account.
Reported ranges, from Thai law firms rather than from any official published figure: a hearing four to eight weeks after filing, a thirty day appeal window after the order is made, bank funds reachable four to six months from death where the order is obtained promptly, and six to twelve months for a land or condominium title transfer. Other firms put the whole process at six months to over a year.
Treat the short end as a best case rather than an expectation.
What slows a Thai estate application down?
Documents, more than court scheduling.
Everything filed has to be in Thai. Foreign birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates and passports need translation, and in some cases legalisation or notarisation abroad, because the court is using them to establish who is related to whom. Legalisation is an official stamp confirming that the signature or seal on a document is genuine, which is what makes an authority in another country accept it. A death certificate issued outside Thailand needs Thai translation and legalisation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Canadians should note a related warning from their own government, which points the same way: some countries require Canadian documents, the long form birth certificate and marriage certificate, to be legalised locally before remains are released. Whichever direction the paperwork runs, it is the document gathering that sets the pace.
That gathering happens in another country while the account sits frozen. It is the one part of this that can be shortened in advance, by recording what exists and where it is before anybody needs it.
The Thai death certificate itself is a separate problem, because only one original is ever issued. See the Thai death certificate.
Why does this matter before the money arrives?
Because two clocks run against each other.
Where funeral arrangements have not been made within a set period, usually thirty days, the person is buried in a paupers' mass funeral. The money to pay for a funeral is commonly months away, on the timescale above.
The cost falls to next of kin, and it falls due long before the estate opens. Where next of kin are days away and nothing moves without money, a partner or a friend on the spot often ends up paying it themselves. That is a choice made under pressure rather than a debt they owe, and it is worth knowing in advance by anyone who expects to leave someone in that position. What each option costs is on what it costs to repatriate a body from Thailand.
What is in the pack?
The pages on this site are free and stay free.
After a Death in Thailand is for someone dealing with a death that has already happened. It is printable, and it contains:
- A checklist that runs in order: the first hour, the first day, the first week, before the body moves, and afterwards.
- Every phone number you need, in the order you need them.
- A sheet to record who you spoke to, when, and what they said they would do.
- The next of kin authorisation letter, in the wording the embassies ask for.
- A page to hand a funeral director, saying what you want and what to get in writing.
- A page for deciding between cremation here and bringing the body home.
- Separate sections for British, American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Irish nationals, and one for every other nationality.
PDF and Word, $39.
If you are working out what your own people would face rather than dealing with it now, the guide is the other one. It is written for people living in Thailand and for what has to be arranged in advance.
Sources
- Thai Civil and Commercial Code, Book VI on succession: section 1629 on the six classes of statutory heir, section 1635 on the surviving spouse, section 1711 on who may petition for an administrator, section 1713 on the appointment itself, and sections 1719 to 1733 on what the administrator must then do. Section 826 on the extinction of an agency by death.
- Act on Conflict of Laws B.E. 2481 (1938), section 8 on unproved foreign law, section 37 on succession to immovable property, and section 38 on succession to movable property and the domicile of the deceased.
- What to do when someone dies abroad, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, for the period after which a person is buried in a paupers' mass funeral and for the position that funeral costs fall to next of kin.
- Todesfall in Thailand, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland, for the statement that no Thai public authority administers a deceased person's estate.
- Death outside Canada, Global Affairs Canada, for the legalisation of Canadian documents before release of remains.
- The timescales, the spousal share proportions, the absence of survivorship on joint accounts, the practice of banks freezing accounts on notification of death, and the translation and legalisation burden are drawn from published Thai law firm commentary rather than from statute or a government source. They are reported ranges and descriptions, not official published figures, and they vary between firms.
- The cost of the application, and what becomes of an estate nobody petitions over, are not answered on this page. Both are questions for a Thai lawyer.
- Code sections are cited from published English translations. No official English text of Thai legislation exists. Only the Thai text as published in the Royal Gazette has legal force. Thai legal review of these sections is under way, including whether a foreign resident on a long-stay extension is domiciled here for the purposes of section 38. Section numbers are given so the provisions can be checked directly. See about this site.