nidnoyham

Yes bart, I am mad at him for not doing something years ago. It is all part of the totally helpless feeling you get, when someone has died. I started this thread to get people like him thinking more about their situation. Let some good come from it. I had no idea it would end like this. Don't get him wrong, his little girl was the apple of his eye and his reason for living. Having witnessed his devotion to her in person, makes me mad at him for being so lapse in the ' keeping healthy ' department. We will all miss him too. A trip to Pattaya now, will have something missing for us. Had I not know the man personally, I would not have posted in the way touristman did. every case is unique. Once his funeral is over. it is basically the end of it for me. If asked, I will help his missus for the nippers sake, but not for hers. But that is not an area I want to go into on this forum.

I am still mad at him, for his daughters sake. It is her 6th birthday next month.

No property in UK Alan. All he has is his pension and the insurance with Air Canada, that we all took out at retirement. The insurance beneficiaries can be changed to whom you wish. I have named my kids as mine. The pension, can only be claimed by a Spouse. This is the law of the land. We had a similar problem a few years back. A guy at work was killed in an accident shortly after marrying a Thai. The company could not pay her a pension, because pensions are taxed at source and to pay tax, you need a NI number, which she didn't have. In the end they paid her a one off tax free lump sum . ( which she blew in a year ) I think this is the normal procedure for young wives of Retirees, who may get re married. A lump sum, instead of a life pension. She is in her 30's, so she comes into this category. The other problem we had was getting the cheque to a bank account in LOS. The only branch of Bangkok Bank in the UK, was a clearing bank. they must have done a credit transfer into her account in LOS. I can't remember. The irony of it is, the deceased, did all the contact work with the company for her. He knew the bloke who handled things here. We have someone from work in LOS until April, then she is on her own as far as contacting Personnel goes. His bag has been picked up from the hospital, but no will was found. so it will be a bit drawn out.

Perhaps the parts come free with a magazine, like Super Jet monthly ?

No will found so far Alan. It could be in the bag he had in hospital. He got married in LOS to the mother of the little girl, last year. Another thing I had been telling him to do for years. He did get that right. How this marriage in LOS will be viewed by the company, I don't know.

His funeral is on the 23rd. The lads from work will give him a good send off. His Thai wife wont be there, but his first one and her daughter will be. They didn't even attempt to get a visa Monday, they were assured it would be a waste if time to try. The bag with all the paperwork in, has been picked up from the hospital and his suitcase was cleared through customs by the lads at work, his brother picked it up. Now remains the job of sorting out his Estate. An eternal triangle of a Canadian Company, an English payment system and a Thai national living the other side of the world. It could take some time. I am still angry with him- stupid bugger. He wouldn't listen to anyone about getting himself sorted out here. The ones who finally convinced to fly home last week, now feel guilty for talking him into it. Ah well, that's life !

It appears that a U.K visa, may be out of the question for his Thai wife, if she has no sponsor, or enough of her own money topay for her trip. The English friend there, can't sponsor her, as he already sponsors his wife for a visa, which he will be applying for in 2 months time. They are going to give it a go today, but he feels he is wasting a trip to BKK and 4600bht. Someone has contacted his brother, who doesn't GAF that he is dead, but others have persuaded him to arrange a funeral. So that is good news. Now we have to make sure the bag with all the doc's gets picked up from hospital. I can see me, or someone else, making a trip to LOS.

After an entire day on the phone Thursday, all friends, ex wife and daughter based in the U.K now realize the only person able to do anything regarding a death certificate, recovery of his effects, information from his employers about his insurance cover etc, is his wife in LOS. She has a passport, but no visa for U.K. To get a vise fast tracked, she needs a death certificate. Her husband took all Thai documents with him for the purpose, I assume, as evidence to the Company, of his recent change of marital status. Marriage, birth certificate of his young daughter.... These doc's are in the bag he took to hospital with him, that no one but his wife can get released. His daughter here ( who he never legally adopted ) has faxed a letter to the Embassy in BKK explaining the situation and a phone contact of the hospital holding his body. The hospital wants rid of him, but no one is willing to arrange a funeral director, because of the £2000+ bill that will go with such arrangements. They will hold his body for 5 days and then the Government take charge of disposal. We are almost sure he had a policy that will pay for his funeral, but I phoned the Personnel department, to give them phone contacts of friends in LOS and as sympathetic as the lady was, she could tell me nothing other than the information of his death, has been forewarded to the Company Head Office. As far as they were concerned, the ball is now in his wifes court, to make a claim on his estate. His wife thinks he made a Will, but no one can find it, it could be with him with the other doc's. The best advise I can give for any of you married to a Thai, but have you're estate in your own country, is to make a will in both countries, appoint an Executor in each. With the recent trend in I.D theft, all usable information for this, is now very tightly controlled. Fortunately for the wife, a friend there, has the means to buy her a ticket, when she gets the visa. She has never flown, or left the country before. He and his Thai wife- her cousin, may travel with her. It's all a mess. It could have been made less so, with some planning and preparation.

A sad ending I'm afraid, he died at 2am in hospital here, 6 hours after arriving. It is all such a mess, i can't begin to tell you the complications. Maybe in a few days time. Thanks for the advise bigD anyway.

I don't know his exact financial situation. It is something I never ask. I estimate he had a £25-28,000 lump sum. 10 of which he gave to his wife in U.k for safe keeping. That was about the most sensible thing he did. It paid for his op' 2 years ago. The rest paid of CC debts and furnished his house in Pattaya. Basically he lives of his pension, which varies with the exchange rate GBP-BHT. Another little twist he didn't reckon on. I imagine his net pension is £750-£850 pm. He lives a very modest lifestyle in Pattaya ( much to his partners dismay ) He does not, as far as I know " monger" any more. That would have finished him off, in more ways than one. I have mentioned his lifestyle, including smoking etc. I spoke to him today, he didn't sound too good. Personally, I don't think the Airline will accept him for travel. As mentioned before, it is not a quick hop across the English Chanel, it is half way around the world. This is the case , excepting the Ausies, for most of us.

Owen thanks for all the good advise and figures- scary as they are. I would like to address some of the issues raised by this post. First of all Touristman ; When his child was conceived, he was in full time employment earning £30,000+ pa. For the first 2 years of her life, this nipper wanted for nothing. He is a good father. He, like dozens of others, myself included, had to make a life changing decision. We had all worked for an Airline for over 20 years. That airline was in the process of going bust. We all had a choice of taking the early retirement we were entitled to, or sit it out and risk losing all our service and pension rights if things went tits up. None of us had planned to retire at that time and for him it was about 8 years earlier than intended. He had the choice of: 1. Stay and chance losing everything. 2. Retire on a reduced pension and get another job to make up the shortfall in income. 3. Retire and live cheaply in LOS. Number 3 was so tempting for several reasons. In the first place, he had heart trouble, was overweight, smoked, ate too many bacon and 'dog rolls from the canteen, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, the chance of getting re employed was pretty grim. As anonsailor said, self inflicted illness. If he stayed in England, the rent and local tax on his home would be over 2/3rds of his pension. Moving to LOS meant he had the company of his Thai lady, daughter and a few Expats, along with the weather and other benefits. He took a chance on his health and for a while he made efforts to keep fit. He bought a couple of bikes, rigged up a pulley exercise machine, but the heat coupled with his weight, got too much. Had he been a fitter person, I would not be posting about him- yet ! I just wanted to get people thinking about their situation..... Money, health insurance, distance from your home country, stuff like that. Until you know someone in this situation, like all things, it does not enter your head it can happen to you. He is coming home on the 9th. One thing that has occurred to me, is the working mans ignorance of ' The System' for getting help when needed. He is still paying U.K tax on his pension, so not really out of things- I hope! The tax debt is partly their fault. they gave him a rebate on retirement. I retired at the same time and didn't get one. Thanks for the replies and advise.

Owen. I don't think he will get much help from his wifes kids, because they are not his. He adopted them as youngsters, the wife buggered off and left them with him once she had the Brit' passport. The daughter is a lovely person, but now married to a Nigerian, who doesn't work, hence the loss of the rented house. The son is Gay and without going into details, a waste of space. His wife has subbed him most of the money for the intended op', but for some reason, he isn't asking her to help with accommodation over here. I had another call last night from a work mate who has a one bed flat. He is willing to put him up for a while. The person in question is coming over next week. As for checking a National Health website, that is another thing, he has less knowledge about computers than I have. If he is taken to hospital on arrival, what details can he give them ? Address? Phone number? Next of kin ? Without this heart problem, he would be o.k for living in LOS on his pension, but no plan B. As I said, he could 'just afford it'. So, he will arrive here, with no U.K address, not even a Sim card for his phone on arrival. Thinking about it, he won't even be able to change his bank account to a more favourable one, without some proof of address in the UK. The more I think about it the worse it gets. Everyone who has visited him in the last two years has given him the same advise- to go home. At the time he still had a house to go to. Then the kids stopped paying the rent. You can't help being as angry with him, as you are sorry for him.

Mid fifties. I didn't start this thread to kick someone who is down. I just wanted to show what can happen on a shoestring budget. Yes the little girl is his. She is the main reason for him living in LOS. He has no family in U.K bar his estranged Thai wife and her two adult children. His wish was to watch his daughter grow up. It has just gone horribly wrong for him.

Can I watch as you count it out ? By 300,000, you will be in tears man. I could have added that he owes the I.R over £1200 + interest and he recently canceled the payments on his outstanding C. Cards debts in the U.K. Thinking he will never go back. In case you are wondering, I told him to go home 2 years ago to sort himself out, but I think he felt that would be losing face- he's thinking like a Thai now.

Just a thought. These dogs are so friendly to humans, they are the most stolen dog in the UK. they will walk off with anyone. £2-300 a go very profitable.

Nautical Inn has a good pool, with diving board and slide. Bar service, deck chairs.

Not complaining- just scared of dying and leaving a Thai partner and 5 year old daughter to fend for themselves. Yeah, he's having a right laugh.

Had a call from LOS today. It was about my ex workmate, who retired to Patts 4 years ago. He like others, did his sums and thought he could " Just afford to do it" a fatal mistake, if you can just afford it, don't do it. He had heart trouble in UK before he left, so no insurance company would give him health cover. He had one small op' 2 years ago to put a balloon type thing in his heart, to open the valve. I had a text from him saying he was going in for an op' Xmas day, at a hospital in BKK. Unfortunately the pre op' showed that his heart was so badly damaged to put in another balloon would not work. He needs a triple by- pass and the cost is 800,000bht or there abouts. He hasn't got the money, he is desperately ill and using the money saved for his smaller op' to buy a ticket home. He has nowhere to stay here, as his kids didn't pay the rent on the house they lived in. He will need somewhere for at least 6 months, while he gets attention and aftercare- If he gets it in the first place. So anyone in a similar situation to him, before retiring to LOS, bear this story in mind. Don't burn your bridges. Unless you have a solid amount of cash behind you, think very carefully about retirement. The other factor, is the distance involved in returning home for us. I am not sure if he will be accepted for travel if he looks too ill. I was telling his story to another ex workmate here today, who's wife works for Thai Airlines, hope I haven't made a boo-boo. What if he has a heart attack on the 'plane half way home and the flight has to divert in the Middle East ? No insurance- nightmare ! I don't want to piss on anyones parade. Learn from others mistakes- you haven't got time to make them all yourself.

What, when the oil runs out ? MR GWB has invested heavily in the Middle East lately. He didn't get that wrong too ?

I worked with an Indian bloke who did this every year- twice sometimes. The last time, his wife decided to go with him at the last moment. It would be lovely to see mum again. He had a great time rushing round getting a ticket for himself, the day before he left.

Regent Inns- that's the one. I celebrated Brentford's win with a bottle of Fullers Golden Pride (8.6%) followed by a wee Grouse or two. My thinking was a bit fuzzy. I am not holding these, I bought at 22p down from about 80p. this is the lowest sp for 3 1/2 years. I thought, sod it' buy a few quids worth- "He who dares Rodney....." When I was a butcher, we had a saying. " Never stop a dying wife, never catch a falling knife ! " Strange thing, on the 6th/7th of the month, millions of shares were bought by two investment companies. Another share I hold ASP.L -Ascribe, an I.T outfit for Health Care, had 10,000,000 shares bought by Barclay's Bank and a Pension Fund on the same day, 6th Dec. Maybe it's a trading day ? I use iii website for info and trading, I don't know if it's good or bad, I have only used the one.

I'm a mug punter. My latest " bottom fishing" bet is REG.L ( Regency Hotels ) they are well down for some reason. Last week there was some large buys of the shares, which are at their lowest price for years. Looks a good bet to me, but what do I know ?

Isn't Aberdeen's ground, literally on the beach ? You must get some spray on a stormy nigh at one end. Well done! Most English sides who win in Europe, have several players that will be playing in the 2008 Cup . Or the Africa Nations Cup in January.

Blimey, no more Black Magic sites for me then. My son handles all that sort of thing, as I type this an auto- scan is running to detect bad stuff. I think.