Jump to content

How do i ensure that wifey gets access to my UK/Thai bank accounts when the grim reaper calls ?


Pumpuynarak

Recommended Posts

22 hours ago, nampla69 said:

Ermmmm no ..... in theory yes mate as being legally married should give you a lot of protection under Thai Law which is not as bad as some people make out ............. BUTTTTTTT !!! ............... it's the relatives should anything happen God forbid.

Like vultures and will dig up the front garden if they can.

Have you made a will ?? ...... don't have to reply on an open forum but .... useful to have in place.

Hmmmm...interesting....I will talk to wifey about this.I could have sworn she told me that there is no problem for me to get her assets....Yes had a "living trust" and "will" both made up prior to 2016. She gets my 401k money, my kids are on the title to my house and they get that. 

16 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

From what I understand, the spouse of the deceased will inherit all the assets without having to go through probate. There is one catch in Thailand I remember reading about and that is a non-Thai you can not own land so you'll need to sell any real estate you inherit. IIRC you're allowed a year to do that.

Well buddy, thanks for the input here, I guess the "upside" would be I can have a year of fun with some of the " birds" in Minburi, before I have to sell LOL!  Just kidding....really I am. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

From what I understand, the spouse of the deceased will inherit all the assets without having to go through probate. There is one catch in Thailand I remember reading about and that is a non-Thai you can not own land so you'll need to sell any real estate you inherit. IIRC you're allowed a year to do that.

That catch about owning land was the only thing I was wondering about and that shouldn't be a problem if you have children together, just leave the land (with some restrictions like usufruct) to the children.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/24/2021 at 6:18 AM, Pumpuynarak said:

The DWP know my Thai address as i disclosed it to them when i claimed the pension 6 years ago so i also get no state pension increases but my UK bank does not know and i imagine if i disclose it to them they may very well close the account as per their regulations, hence my reticence.

Access to the NHS - If i ever need to avail myself of their services which i've payed into all my working life at the highest rate and am still paying income tax at 10K per year on my state/private pension i will simply claim i am returning to the UK permanently to take up residency.

I also have access to the Government Gateway for income tax purposes.  

Regarding the first instance, I don't think the bank can close an account unless it is shown or suspected to be used for fraudulent activities / money laundering. Living abroad as an expatriate either for Tax purposes or even for settlement still entitles you to keep a UK bank account.

Regarding the NHS. Keep a note of your NHS number and the details of your GP that you last used in the UK and life becomes much easier. PM me for details. (Note I am NOT condoning defrauding the NHS).

As for your wife getting her mitts on your wealth, the easiest way is to go to a decent Law firm and get them to write up a will, and also make them (the law firm) executors (but give your wife LPA for health and wealth). Upon you snuffing it, your Mrs picks up the phone and calls them, they then arrange probate (very quickly might I add) and give her all the details and information she needs, as well as full access to your accounts and assets as defined in the will (as assets go to the spouse unless otherwise requested I think), they then execute the Will in accordance with your wishes.

This is not cheap, I've just done this for a relative and the final bill was just north of £2k, however, it is a watertight Will (with a challenge clause in it, so if it is challenged by anyone named within the will, they lose all claim and need to finance it themselves), and in the event of death, I just pick the phone up and they do the rest. However, the estate I was dealing with ran into 7 figures so it's pin money, relatively speaking.

There is a charge for the legwork they do when the time comes, but they also give an estimate of that, and in my case it worked out at around 3 hours work which translates to roughly £900 ish.

I will double check a couple of points I made there, but it is actually against the law to withdraw money from a spouses account in the event of their death, because if the spouse had bequeathed the money to someone else, that then constitutes theft, and the banks will get a shitty on if they find out that money has been taken from the account after the account holder died, and will want to know where it went and who took it. for some reason they're hot on that kind of thing, even if it is done by the remaining spouse .

Edited by Butch
  • Great Info 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Butch said:

Regarding the first instance, I don't think the bank can close an account unless it is shown or suspected to be used for fraudulent activities / money laundering. Living abroad as an expatriate either for Tax purposes or even for settlement still entitles you to keep a UK bank account.

Regarding the NHS. Keep a note of your NHS number and the details of your GP that you last used in the UK and life becomes much easier. PM me for details. (Note I am NOT condoning defrauding the NHS).

As for your wife getting her mitts on your wealth, the easiest way is to go to a decent Law firm and get them to write up a will, and also make them (the law firm) executors (but give your wife LPA for health and wealth). Upon you snuffing it, your Mrs picks up the phone and calls them, they then arrange probate (very quickly might I add) and give her all the details and information she needs, as well as full access to your accounts and assets as defined in the will (as assets go to the spouse unless otherwise requested I think), they then execute the Will in accordance with your wishes.

This is not cheap, I've just done this for a relative and the final bill was just north of £2k, however, it is a watertight Will (with a challenge clause in it, so if it is challenged by anyone named within the will, they lose all claim and need to finance it themselves), and in the event of death, I just pick the phone up and they do the rest. However, the estate I was dealing with ran into 7 figures so it's pin money, relatively speaking.

There is a charge for the legwork they do when the time comes, but they also give an estimate of that, and in my case it worked out at around 3 hours work which translates to roughly £900 ish.

I will double check a couple of points I made there, but it is actually against the law to withdraw money from a spouses account in the event of their death, because if the spouse had bequeathed the money to someone else, that then constitutes theft, and the banks will get a shitty on if they find out that money has been taken from the account after the account holder died, and will want to know where it went and who took it. for some reason they're hot on that kind of thing, even if it is done by the remaining spouse .

Breach of the Fiduciary Relationship between bank and customer, could possibly be grounds for a bank closing an account.  This could, in my view, cover a failure to inform the bank that a customer was no longer normally resident in UK.

Interestingly, searching the internet, it appears that a bank can close the account of a customer without giving a reason.  There are quite a number of articles on the subject.  We learn new things every day!!

  • Like 1
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, john luke said:

Breach of the Fiduciary Relationship between bank and customer, could possibly be grounds for a bank closing an account.  This could, in my view, cover a failure to inform the bank that a customer was no longer normally resident in UK.

Interestingly, searching the internet, it appears that a bank can close the account of a customer without giving a reason.  There are quite a number of articles on the subject.  We learn new things every day!!

your are absolutely right jl. when a person opens an account, the account holder has to sign and accept the general terms and conditions of the bank. this includes the right of the bank to close the relationship without reason.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, john luke said:

Breach of the Fiduciary Relationship between bank and customer, could possibly be grounds for a bank closing an account.  This could, in my view, cover a failure to inform the bank that a customer was no longer normally resident in UK.

Interestingly, searching the internet, it appears that a bank can close the account of a customer without giving a reason.  There are quite a number of articles on the subject.  We learn new things every day!!

I know people this has happened to, they do it quite quickly and really don’t give a reason.

  • Surprised 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Butch said:

Regarding the first instance, I don't think the bank can close an account unless it is shown or suspected to be used for fraudulent activities / money laundering.

 

10 hours ago, john luke said:

Interestingly, searching the internet, it appears that a bank can close the account of a customer without giving a reason.

 

51 minutes ago, Sangsom said:

I know people this has happened to, they do it quite quickly and really don’t give a reason.

 

Yup! A few years ago I took up a one year contract to work in Myanmar. I happened to be on holiday in UK at the time so went into Barclays to tell them. No problems.

For the first 3 months I never received my pay. No matter how many phone calls, mails etc were made the "Help Desk" kept avoiding my questions. I changed my payments to Lloyds and finally received my money....

But ..Now hear this!...When I went into the bank to find out what happened nobody would talk to me. Then the Account Manager came out and said that they had closed my account and that "a letter was in the post" When I asked how I could access my money he said "Use your visa card in a supermarket and get cash back - we can't stop that!)

A few days before flying back to Myanmar the letter arrived and it just abruptly said "We are closing your account" That was it !!!

  • Sad 1
  • Surprised 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/30/2021 at 12:49 AM, john luke said:

Breach of the Fiduciary Relationship between bank and customer, could possibly be grounds for a bank closing an account.  This could, in my view, cover a failure to inform the bank that a customer was no longer normally resident in UK.

Interestingly, searching the internet, it appears that a bank can close the account of a customer without giving a reason.  There are quite a number of articles on the subject.  We learn new things every day!!

Fair point, but does that actually come under the T&C's?. (I expect it probably does, and as you say, they don't really need a reason other than a whim).

I'm not sure how the Expats get on who live abroad yet still have accounts here in the UK for receiving rent / investments / pensions though.

Like many institutions, they probably have some small print which gives them remit to do anything they wish, but I'm fairly sure that being resident abroad is probably unlikely to be one of the reasons, as there are so many hundreds of thousands of former UK residents living elsewhere.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

 

 

 

Yup! A few years ago I took up a one year contract to work in Myanmar. I happened to be on holiday in UK at the time so went into Barclays to tell them. No problems.

For the first 3 months I never received my pay. No matter how many phone calls, mails etc were made the "Help Desk" kept avoiding my questions. I changed my payments to Lloyds and finally received my money....

But ..Now hear this!...When I went into the bank to find out what happened nobody would talk to me. Then the Account Manager came out and said that they had closed my account and that "a letter was in the post" When I asked how I could access my money he said "Use your visa card in a supermarket and get cash back - we can't stop that!)

A few days before flying back to Myanmar the letter arrived and it just abruptly said "We are closing your account" That was it !!!

Might have been because Burma at the time wasn't signed up to the International money laundering laws. I had a problem back in 2000 when shunting a not inconsiderable amount of money from the UK account to the Philippines, they were not a signaturee at the time and I had to go about form filling, plus proof of where the money was going.

anyway, I thought back in your day they paid in dubloons lol?.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

But ..Now hear this!...When I went into the bank to find out what happened nobody would talk to me.

I believe nowadays that if anti money laundering investigations are under way they're not allowed to talk to you (as in it's illegal) about what's happening.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Butch said:

Might have been because Burma at the time wasn't signed up to the International money laundering laws. I had a problem back in 2000 when shunting a not inconsiderable amount of money from the UK account to the Philippines, they were not a signaturee at the time and I had to go about form filling, plus proof of where the money was going.

anyway, I thought back in your day they paid in dubloons lol?.

Hahahaha

In retrospect I know exactly why it was, but the point of discussion was a bank closing an account abruptly and with no explanation. At the time I told them where I was going, what I was doing and showed them my contract but the slimy bastards said f**k all.

I was there when Aung Suu Kyi was still under house arrest by the lake (which happened to be between the office and Mickey's cafe). This was the period that Barclays was under investigation for its International dastardly deeds. I was still there on her release as coincidentally she was on the same Bangkok Airways flight to BKK as me early one morning!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Butch said:

but I'm fairly sure that being resident abroad is probably unlikely to be one of the reasons, as there are so many hundreds of thousands of former UK residents living elsewhere.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, if being UK resident is stated as a condition of having an account in the banks T&C i can see the bank being allowed to close the account forthwith, now whether they would actually do that remains to be seen. I don't intend to inform them of my non residency in the UK just in case they decide to close the account. 

I've a good mind to contact HSBC anonymously and ask what their current policy is lol

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/2/2021 at 12:51 AM, Pumpuynarak said:

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, if being UK resident is stated as a condition of having an account in the banks T&C i can see the bank being allowed to close the account forthwith, now whether they would actually do that remains to be seen. I don't intend to inform them of my non residency in the UK just in case they decide to close the account. 

I've a good mind to contact HSBC anonymously and ask what their current policy is lol

Yes, apologies, I realised that I should have added the above point as a caveat. Asking anonymously is not a bad idea actually.

It's a bit scary to thin that the banks can literally close an account with no period of notice and @john luke was right when he said all it takes is potentially breaking the rules in the small print.

 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...