The Right of Inheritance Right as a Statutory Heir Between a father and an Illegitimate Child

Abstract

Section 1627 of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code recognizes that a child born out of wedlock, if acknowledged by the father through conduct, shall be deemed a descendant and entitled to inherit from the father as a statutory heir. However, the law does not clearly define the scope of such conduct. A legal ambiguity arises as to whether a father’s oral declaration to bequeath property to his illegitimate child recorded in a video clip and publicly disseminated can be considered sufficient acknowledgment. Additionally, the law does not grant reciprocal inheritance rights to a father who has acknowledged his child through conduct, resulting in legal inequity. This research aims to propose legal reform to ensure clarity and fairness in inheritance rights between a father and his illegitimate child.

          The findings reveal that while such a video-recorded declaration does not constitute a valid will under the Civil and Commercial Code, it may nevertheless be interpreted as acknowledgment under Section 1627. Despite this, the law still lacks provisions that allow
a father who has acknowledged a child through conduct to inherit from that child as
a statutory heir, which leads to unjust treatment toward the father. To address this issue, the study proposes an amendment to Section 1627 by adding a second paragraph stating that
a father who acknowledges his child as described in the first paragraph shall be deemed
a statutory heir of the child and entitled to inheritance, as are parents under Section 1629(2). Similarly, under Section 14 of the United Kingdom’s Family Law Reform Act 1969,
a biological father is entitled to a share in the estate of his illegitimate child based on blood relationship, without discrimination between a legal father and a biological father in matters of inheritance rights.