Reader Question: What happens to our house if my Thai wife dies?

Chris from BE, no. The house is not yours, you have usufruct, you write.

Who owns land and house? I assume from your wife and she leaves it to .. to whom? Does your wife have a will? You can inherit the house through her will, but the foundation is only very limited and for a short time and then you have to sell it to a Thai. If there is no will, Thai law applies.

After her death, you can sell land and house together with the owner(s) by first renouncing the usufruct and in that context making agreements about the distribution of the money. The heirs of land and house can also sell the business without you, but who wants to buy it if you can stay in it for life? That is a value-depressing factor.

With a usufruct you have usufruct until your death (on life) or a fixed number of years (max 30 years). You can even rent it out again. Do know that you must always comply with the rules of the usufruct.

Don't see anything about a sale by usufruct holder. Probably a step too far, because you are not an owner and everything is under the name usufruct.

You continue to have control over the property (in the event of your wife's death) and the owner cannot/may NOT sell, not even the heirs, until you die or the time period has expired, only then will the usufruct end and the owner can move on again. do whatever he wants with it. But I don't think a sale by a product holder will work.
Perhaps you can dissolve the usufruct together, if both agree. Do you end up with a lawyer, who will have to arrange it with the land office. I don't think it's advisable, why did you do it?
Only if you want to get the money out again by selling, I think the option “house in company name” remains. However, this is also increasingly restricted.

If you have rented it out again in the usufruct time, with a lease, then that lease will continue to run, despite the fact that you are dead or the time period has passed and the usufruct has ended.
Disadvantage actually for the owner in the form of your wife or inheritance.

Perhaps a will from the wife is the way out? She can state that the property should be sold and the money will return to you, but then you have to get rid of your usufruct.
Then there is only one year to sell and then you are obliged to leave.
What do you want, stay there or leave?

Usufruct comes from the Latin word Usufructus. In almost all countries in the world, where usufruct exists legally, the rules are identical. Usufruct is, here in Thailand, credited in the chanote, the title deed. Only the rightful owner can grant a usufruct of a property, to anyone…. does not have to be a family or spouse. The person who acquires the usufruct is, in legal terms, called the NAKED OWNER.
As a naked owner, you cannot sell the property without the consent of the adult owner(s). The reverse also applies: the owners cannot sell the property without the naked owner's consent.
A will, as described above, is not a solution at all in case usufruct has been granted. The will that says that the naked owner can sell, even if the proceeds are divided, is a textbook example of an invalid will. After all, if usufruct already applies here, the same is given away twice and that is not possible according to the law. It is one or the other: will OR usufruct. (info Belgian notary).
The usufruct can be dissolved with joint consent, i.e. the owner(s) with the naked owner, but here in Thailand this will have to be done through the court, just like the execution of a will.