Isaanlawyers

We would like to get a liability insurance for our company, a law firm.
We only employ registered Thai attorneys. We also have translators and an accountant.

We want to protect our company against a potential mistake, against a client that could sue us for X reason.

Does anyone have any idea where to ask? I contacted 3 different insurance companies and none replied so far.
I made a search on Internet but didn't find anything with a comprehensive cover, what is included, what is the price for that, etc.
We want a cover of maybe 5 to 10 million baht.  

Not only will it protect us, but it will protect also our clients.
So far, I have worked with 30 different Thai attorneys and none had insurance. But it is mandatory where I come from...for any lawyer.

Thanks,

Sebastian.

Does anyone have heard about the new restrictions at the land department for foreigners wishing to make a long term lease or a mortgage?
I haven't been on thaivisa for a long time and I didn't look at all the topics. But this is what happened to us Wednesday:

We went with a foreign client and his wife to a land department to register a mortgage.
The head officer told us that they received some "directives" or "instructions". Basically, they will be more restrictive for any mortgage or long term lease given to a foreigner.
The land department has a wide "discretionary power" and they are difficult to argue with...
We were not able to register the mortgage and this is the first time it happens to us.
We know these people at the land department, and it has nothing to do with tea money or someone not knowing the law.
It was actually at the land department of Nakhon Ratchasima, where we are located. And we deal with land department of about 20 others places, mostly in Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Nong Khai, Buriram, Pak Chong.

The law has not changed, but it seems all land departments have received clear instructions, applying for long term lease and mortgage. I think that was done last month. I can not confirm.

We will try to get a copy of this memo.
If anyone had a problem with another land department, it would be great to know.
If there was a post about it before, I would be happy to be redirected!


PS: I forgot to say that we had a MOU drafted with the mortage and we basically changed the MOU and registered a usufruct, which was fine for the client. But no mortgage.

I am not sure if I am posting this regulation under the good forum, but living Wills are probably part of some family matters and foreigners living in Thailand should know about them.  Living Wills were recognized under Thai Law by the Health Act of 2007. The law refers to a regulation and we were waiting for it. Now, we have the regulation and we did a translation in English.

The regulation for Living Wills in Thailand was signed on October 6th 2010 by the Prime minister of Thailand. It was published on 22nd October 2010 in the Government Gazette.

According to clause 1 off that regulation, it will be applicable 210 days after the publication in the Governmental Gazette, so around mid June 2011.

You will find the regulation in Thai here:

http://www.thailawon...ion in Thai.pdf

Our translation in English here:

http://thailawonline...aan_Lawyers.pdf

For more information about Living Wills, there is a link here:
http://thailawonline...n-thailand.html

For any clients that previously did a living Will with Isaan Lawyers, if it needs to be adjusted following this new regulation, Isaan Lawyers will do the modifications free of charge. For instance, the address of the witness and writer of the Living Will must be mentionned.

I received a private message asking me to answer the following question here:

Can a foreigner inherit some piece of land? (And become the owner).

I think  there was a debate on it here but I didn't see it. Sorry. I was busy with some projects and we are actually writing articles about Wills and other subjects to upgrade our site http://www.thailawonline.com. I read so much about Last Wills in Thailand in the last month that I can't complete my articles! I am completely bored with the subject but I do understand many foreigners here are concerned so I will try my best and complete them in 2 weeks.

Anyway, I will answer this question and provide you a link to an exceptional document answering these questions (but only in Thai).

The answer is YES, IF IT'S A STATUTORY HEIR. A statutory heir is a person receiving inheritance by law, when the decease didn't have a Will. That is according to section 93 of the Land Code. However, he must receive the permission of the ministry of interior. To my knowledge, it's VERY rare. The ministry of interior normally delegates his power to the head officer of the land department and the governor of the provincial administration. It's never more than 1 rai according to section 87 of the Land Code. You must submit your application and I will show you the document below. If refuse, you have between 6 months and 1 years to dispose of the land, according to section 94 of the Land Code.

If the foreigner receiving land by inheritance is a LEGATEE, the administrator of the estate will dispose of the land and the foreigner will receive the proceeds.

This create a strange situation where according to the Thai officials, a person receiving by a Will has less rights than a person receiving from the law. There is no doubt in my mind that it is not a reason NOT to make a Will. I would strongly suggest anyone who has some assets to make a Will. It makes things just more simply and in some cases, you can get real gains by making a Will (I will write that later, not now). A Will is an important document and it's not expensive to do.

The above information comes directly from the directives given to the Land Department. It was quite confused few years ago (still is...) and they decided to prepare a booklet explaining what I just wrote. It was done about 5 years ago and it is still used. THAT DOCUMENT IS A DOCUMENT FOR THE LAND DEPARTMENT.

You will find it here: (It's a VERY LARGE DOCUMENT, in PDF, 17 pages, more or less)

http://www.thailawon...to%20aliens.pdf


(This document is for first time on Internet. I have it for a long time but I just scanned it this afternoon)

We didn't have time to translate it. You have the process and documents to apply to in order to ask the permission to be granted one year as a statutory heir. In the middle, with small squares to tick on the left, it's all the documents needed for an application. And you have different application forms at the end.

We published new videos explaining Law on http://www.thailawonline.com and will add many new articles soon.

Enjoy,