I must admit to reading maybe 70% of the long letter..but I think I get the gist of it. No doubt this is tragic for you and your family.

I'm not across the legal side of things here in Cambodia re land purchase and setting up a company et al. However, as a general principle isn't it the case that foreigners can't own land? Now I know that many expats here have got around via lawyers by setting up contracts with 99 year leases, companies et al. But seems to me, it's pretty clear why this is done and I doubt that at the end of the day it would be sanctioned by the authorities if it was brought to a hit. Didn't something like these happen in Thailand where foreigners were using company title system to purchase property and then the thai authorities woke up to the extent of what was going on and cracked down on it? I recall reading on another forum that an expat sold his house and bought a condo unit instead (51% owned by thai, 49% farang) to avoid this.

Anyway, I note you started up a khmer company to purchase khmer property. As I said I don't know how that would work given the general principle I mentioned above. However, at the start of your letter you refer to the fact that you are an Amercian family that invested here... then later you refer to American investors.. Seems to me they can see through all this.

Then I started to think how do foreign companies set up here? Isn't it the case that they either 1. lease the land (even it means a 99 yr lease like I've heard some chinese developments have done, or 2. Set up a company with a khmer partner or company where they are at least 51% shareholders? This is not what you have done is it? As I said, I'm no expert on this so happy to be corrected.

I dunno but in this context, seems to me as a barang you are behind the eight ball on this..a lot of international laws and principles simply don't apply. Furthermore, I doubt the authorities are going to be very sympathetic to the plight of anything to do with the US at the moment (or indeed any western country). There's still that thorny issue of unpaid war loans from the 1970's that the US is still demanding to be paid.