Who can legally act
Not sure where to start? Start here
Written by Greg Berryman. Sources last checked 26 August 2026.
Three separate questions, three different answers.
Who can collect the body in Thailand?
This is decided by hospitals, district offices and embassies. It is administrative practice rather than a single rule, and the definitions vary by country.
Every box with an underlined heading opens the page that explains it.
| Government | Who counts as next of kin | Same-sex spouse |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Spouse, a child over 20, or a parent. Published | Not addressed |
| United States | Spouse, then children, then parents, then siblings, then grandparents, in that order. Published | Recognised, published |
| Australia | The closest living legal or blood relative, with no order of precedence. Published | Recognised, not published |
| Canada | No list. Ottawa traces the family and the letter follows their consent. Not published | Recognised, not published |
| New Zealand | No definition published. Asked, nothing added | Asked, not answered |
| Ireland | No list. The Gardaí trace next of kin through Irish civil registration records. Published | Not addressed |
Published means you can point at a government page. Not published means the government told this site directly and has put nothing on its own website, so nobody at a hospital counter can look it up. Not addressed means the question has not been answered at all. Asked, nothing added and asked, not answered mean this site put the question to that government directly and the reply gave no answer.
Not addressed does not mean not recognised. Those governments use the word spouse, or the word family, without qualification, and none has revisited its guidance since Thai law changed in January 2025. See below.
Each definition comes from that government's own material: the UK's service page for body-release letters, the US Embassy, Smartraveller for Australia, the New Zealand Government, and Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Canada's entry comes from the Embassy of Canada in Bangkok, in an email to this site. Global Affairs Canada's published guidance uses the term without defining it. The UK page adds one detail: anyone who is not next of kin needs that person's written authorisation, and the page publishes the exact wording required.
New Zealand's entry rests on a direct question as well as its published pages. The New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok was asked on 10 August 2026 how it defines next of kin for the release letter, whether that definition is published anywhere, whether a same-sex spouse qualifies, and what happens where the only person present is an unmarried partner or where no next of kin can be identified. It replied on 26 August 2026 that it had no further published information to add beyond the guidance already available on SafeTravel, and did not answer the second and third questions.
The practical consequence: a childless, unmarried Briton whose parents have died may have no next of kin at all under the UK definition. An American in identical circumstances has siblings and grandparents to fall back on, and an Australian has whoever is the closest living relative, with no cut-off point.
Each government's full position has its own page: British, American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, Irish, and every other nationality.
What happens when no next of kin can be traced?
Two of the six have answered, and Canada's answer is the more useful one.
Canada. The Embassy of Canada in Bangkok has told this site that where Ottawa's attempts to trace next of kin or an emergency contact are unsuccessful, the Embassy will treat an unmarried partner as next of kin and issue the authorisation letter to the partner.
It gave a second route as well, and this one can be arranged in advance. Where an unmarried partner is identified as the deceased's next of kin in the will, the partner becomes next of kin.
That matters beyond Canada, because it matches what the United States said about the same problem from a different direction. American Citizens Services confirmed that a statement prepared ahead of time carries weight only if it is a valid last will and testament. Two governments, asked separately, point at the same document. See wills in Thailand, and which country's law applies.
Australia. Australian consular correspondence with this site states that where no next of kin can be identified, the emergency contact listed on the deceased's most recent passport application is contacted to establish whether there are surviving next of kin.
That appears in no published guidance, and it turns a field most people filled in once into the thing that decides who gets the call. Check what name is on your most recent application.
The same correspondence states that where next of kin cannot be identified, or is unwilling to act, a letter authorising release of the remains may be issued to a Thai partner, spouse or friend so that funeral arrangements can be made, and that in many cases next of kin in Australia authorise release to a Thai partner regardless of marital status. Where nobody can be found or nobody will act, a pauper's funeral follows under local procedure.
Treat that as practice rather than policy. The source was clear that some of what was described comes from experience rather than published guidance, that the treatment of a foreigner's death can differ from province to province and hospital to hospital, and that rules change or are interpreted differently, and recommended that Australians take independent legal advice, in Thailand and in Australia, and hold a current will and power of attorney.
The United States has answered the earlier half of the same problem. American Citizens Services has confirmed that where the only person present in Thailand is an unmarried partner and next of kin cannot initially be reached, it makes every reasonable effort to contact them in accordance with the order of kinship, and that once a family member is eventually reached and authorises the partner to make the funeral arrangements, it can issue a letter of instruction to the partner. What happens where nobody is ever reached, or where the relative reached will not act, it has not said.
New Zealand was asked both halves of this question on 10 August 2026, and answered neither. Its Embassy in Bangkok replied on 26 August 2026 that it had no further published information to add beyond the guidance already available on SafeTravel. SafeTravel does not cover it.
One question is still open across most of the six. Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland have not said what happens where next of kin are found and refuse to act. Only Australia has addressed that, and only as practice.
The United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland publish nothing about what happens when the list runs out. See when a Canadian dies in Thailand, when an Australian dies in Thailand and when an American dies in Thailand.
How does Ireland decide who is next of kin?
Ireland publishes no definition of next of kin. What it publishes is the method it uses to find them.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade states that it can arrange through An Garda Síochána, the Irish police, for next of kin in Ireland to be informed, and a footnote to that sentence adds that data may be shared with the General Register Office in order to establish next of kin information.
The search therefore runs on Irish civil registration records, and whoever it produces becomes the person the Department deals with. For a long-term resident of Thailand that is unlikely to be the person they live with.
There is an Embassy of Ireland in Bangkok, on Wireless Road, and an honorary consul in Chiang Mai. There is no Irish post in the south. Outside embassy hours the Consular Assistance Unit in Dublin answers on +353 1 408 2527.
The rest of the Irish position, including the Record of Deaths Abroad and the Irish coroner route, is on when an Irish person dies in Thailand.
Is a same-sex spouse next of kin in Thailand?
Three governments have answered, and all three answered yes.
Thailand's marriage equality law took effect on 23 January 2025, and a marriage registered here since then is a marriage. The US Embassy states on its published page that a US citizen married in Thailand to a same-sex spouse can be considered next of kin. Australian consular correspondence with this site states that where an Australian same-sex couple is legally married, including where the marriage has been registered in Thailand, the spouse is recognised as next of kin. The Embassy of Canada in Bangkok, answering a question specifically about same-sex marriage, told this site that a legally married spouse is treated as next of kin.
Only the American answer is on a government website. The Australian and Canadian answers were given to this site directly and appear nowhere public, which matters if you ever need to show somebody the rule.
The United Kingdom, New Zealand and Ireland have not addressed it. They use the word spouse, or the word family, without qualification, and none has revisited its guidance since the law changed.
New Zealand was asked the question directly on 10 August 2026. Its Embassy in Bangkok replied on 26 August 2026 that it had no further published information to add beyond the guidance already available on SafeTravel, and did not answer it.
On the face of it, a spouse is a spouse. But those three have not said so. Until they do, a same-sex spouse of those nationalities should treat their position as untested at the counter and carry the marriage certificate.
Who inherits in Thailand if there is no will?
Thai law decides part of it, and that part is not flexible.
An estate without a valid will passes to six classes of statutory heir in a fixed order: descendants, parents, full siblings, half siblings, grandparents, then uncles and aunts. A surviving spouse sits outside those classes and shares alongside whichever one qualifies. A higher class excludes every lower one entirely.
Thai inheritance law does not distinguish between a same-sex and an opposite-sex spouse. It distinguishes between a registered spouse and everybody else.
Unmarried partners inherit nothing under Thai law. Thai law does not recognise cohabitation or common-law marriage, regardless of how long a couple has lived together.
How much of the estate those rules reach depends on where the deceased was domiciled. Under the Act on Conflict of Laws, land and condominiums here are governed by Thai law because the property is here, section 37, while movable property follows the law of the deceased's domicile at death, section 38. For someone domiciled at home rather than in Thailand, their own country's intestacy rules govern the bank account and the possessions, and several of those countries treat a long-term partner very differently from Thailand. Section 8 of the same Act matters here too. A Thai court applies Thai law unless the foreign law is proved to it, which takes expert evidence and money. Which law reaches which asset is on wills in Thailand, and which country's law applies.
Who can deal with a dead person's assets in Thailand?
Nobody, until a Thai court says so.
There is no probate court in the common-law sense. A provincial court appoints an estate administrator, and it must do so even where the deceased left a valid will. A will naming an executor tells the court who the deceased wanted.
Banks freeze accounts on notification of death and will not release funds on a will alone. They require the court's appointment order. Reported timelines vary: several months for bank funds where the order is obtained promptly, longer for property.
Switzerland's guidance makes the same point from the outside: it tells its citizens there is no public authority in Thailand that administers a deceased person's estate.
Set that against the 30-day deadline before an unclaimed body goes to a pauper's funeral. Weeks to act. Months to reach the money.
Who may petition for the appointment, what the court needs to see, and how long each stage takes is on the court order that unfreezes a Thai bank account. What that person is then required to do, the fifteen days to begin an inventory and the year to account for everything, is on what an estate administrator has to do in Thailand.
Who can witness a document for use in Thailand?
Not, in at least one case, your own embassy.
The Australian Consulate-General in Phuket's notarial services page states that Australian consular and diplomatic officers are only permitted to witness an Australian statutory declaration being made for use in Australia by an Australian entity, and may only certify copies of documents that are Australian or intended for use in Australia. It lists, among the services it cannot provide, witnessing a statutory declaration declaring your address in Thailand.
A statement meant to be handed to a Thai hospital, bank or district office falls outside all of that. For a document intended for use in Thailand, you need a Thai Notarial Services Attorney, a lawyer registered with the Lawyers Council of Thailand to perform notarial acts. Thai law firms provide this.
That page also states that the Australian government does not guarantee the legal effectiveness of a notarised document or the accuracy of its content, and that anyone unsure of the requirements should seek independent legal advice.
A will is the exception, and it is worth knowing because the assumption runs the other way. None of the six countries requires a notary for a will. Two witnesses present at the same time, neither of them a beneficiary, is the whole of it, and two adults in Thailand can do that. See wills in Thailand, and which country's law applies.
Whether other missions apply the same restriction to other documents is not established. Check with your own embassy before assuming it can witness something you intend to use in Thailand.
Does any government keep a record of your funeral wishes?
No.
Australian consular correspondence with this site states that no records are maintained of Australians' wishes about funeral arrangements or the disposition of their remains, and that people should document those wishes and tell family, friends or other trusted individuals. No other government on this site offers such a register either.
A statement written in advance only works if the people who will be in the room have it.
What can you arrange in advance to protect your partner?
In order of how much they achieve.
- Marriage. Resolves more of this, more cheaply, than any set of documents. Available to same-sex couples since 23 January 2025.
- A professionally drafted Thai will, naming the person you want treated as next of kin. Inexpensive, necessary anyway, and the only document two governments have separately confirmed they act on. Canada's embassy has said a partner named as next of kin in the will becomes next of kin. The United States has said a statement made in advance carries weight only if it is a valid will.
- A statement of wishes prepared in advance, and its limits. The Dutch government advises unmarried people in Thailand who want their remains released to their partner to have a local law firm with notarial powers draw up a will or a statement to that effect. Note the wording: a local law firm, and see the section above on who can witness it. If your government is not one of the three that have answered, ask it the same question before relying on a statement rather than a will.
- Check the emergency contact on your passport application. Costs nothing. For an Australian it is the name the government will try if it cannot identify next of kin, and the other governments have not said what they do.
- An inventory of what exists and where it is. No legal force. It shortens the document gathering a court, a bank and an embassy will each require.
What cannot be arranged in advance?
No document you write will give an unmarried partner a right to inherit that Thai law withholds. Naming a partner as next of kin in a will is about who deals with your body and your paperwork. It is not the same as leaving them your estate, and it does not override the statutory heirs where Thai law governs the asset.
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
- Get a letter to release a body in Thailand, UK government service
- Death of a U.S. Citizen, US Embassy Bangkok, last updated 16 July 2026
- American Citizens Services, US Embassy Bangkok, in correspondence with this site, 10 August 2026, for the meaning of a signed statement, and for the handling of a letter of instruction where the only person present in Thailand is an unmarried partner.
- Consular Section, Embassy of Canada to Thailand, in correspondence with this site, 12 August 2026, for the tracing sequence through Ottawa and the RCMP, the issue of the authorisation letter to the individual or funeral home the family consents to, the treatment of a legally married spouse as next of kin, the treatment of an unmarried partner as next of kin where tracing is unsuccessful, and the position that a partner identified as next of kin in the will becomes next of kin. Not published in any Global Affairs Canada guidance.
- What happens if you die overseas and how you can prepare, Smartraveller, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for the Australian definition of next of kin. Checked 10 August 2026.
- Australian consular correspondence with this site, 10 August 2026, for the passport emergency contact, the recognition of a same-sex spouse, the release of remains where next of kin cannot be identified or will not act, and the absence of any register of wishes. Not published in any Australian government guidance, and the source is not named at their request. The source was clear that some of what was described reflects experience rather than stated policy, that treatment of a foreigner's death can vary from province to province and hospital to hospital, and that rules change or are interpreted differently, and recommended that Australians take independent legal advice, in Thailand and in Australia, and hold a current will and power of attorney.
- New Zealand Embassy Bangkok, in correspondence with this site, 26 August 2026, answering questions put on 10 August 2026 on the definition of next of kin for the release letter and whether it is published, the treatment of a same-sex spouse, and the release of remains where the only person present in Thailand is an unmarried partner or where no next of kin can be identified. The Embassy stated that it had no further published information to add beyond the guidance already available on SafeTravel, and did not answer the second and third questions.
- Death outside Canada, Global Affairs Canada, and When someone dies overseas, New Zealand Government
- Death abroad, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ireland. Source of the Garda notification and of the footnote that data may be shared with the General Register Office to establish next of kin information. Page modified by the Department on 11 June 2025, checked 12 August 2026. Embassy and consular contact details from the Embassy of Ireland, Thailand and Assistance abroad, checked 12 August 2026.
- Todesfall in Thailand, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland, for the statement that no Thai public authority administers a deceased person's estate.
- Notarial Services, Australian Consulate-General Phuket
- Civil and Commercial Code Amendment Act (No. 24), B.E. 2567 (2024), the marriage equality amendment, Royal Gazette, Volume 141, Part 58 Kor, 24 September 2024, in force 23 January 2025. Thai text, which is the only version with legal force.
- 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.
- Thai Civil and Commercial Code, Book VI, sections 1629 and 1635 on statutory heirs and the surviving spouse's share, and section 1713 on the appointment of an estate administrator, 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. Section numbers are given so the provisions can be checked directly.