Wills

[darrow]

Just to remind people after the recent topic, Cyprus Bar Association "minimum fees regulations" were abolished in 2018. So if you have it written in your will that your lawyer is your executor and will charge 10% of your estate, make a new will. You do not need a lawyer anyone can be an executor even a benificiary. You can negotiate a set amount for execution of the will by your lawyer, if you do not like what you are hearing, go elsewhere! EU declared that the set fees were unfair and after many years of pressure and warnings they were abolished. Anyone attempting to charge these fees are acting unlawfully. I did my own in UK including probate, cost me nothing, dealt directly with the probate office, but, it wasn't complicated, probabaly wouldn't try it here.

[Mike.1940]

We changed our will several years ago and stopped our Lawyer from being the executor and gave that to our son. We also stipulated for the will to be dealt with under UK law as we heard that if it was dealt with under Cypriot law then our whole estate including UK property was under Cypriot law and the charges could have been exorbitant. Our two wills UK and Cypriot will be dealt with according to UK law. Hope all of this makes sense for those who read this.

[darrow]

I knew you could elect to have the will dealt with as with English law, but will that still apply when we leave EU? Will it be covered under the current status quo agreement? Just a thought...

[Lazydaze52]

When we made our Cypriot wills a couple of years ago we were advised that our executors should complete probate on our UK estate first, then it couldn’t be included in probate over here.

[memory man]

When English law is mentioned, does it actually mean UK law
and would Scots law be different?

[TandC]

I don’t claim to be a lawyer, but my understanding is.
1 You should have two separate wills one for Cyprus assets and one for UK assets.
2. Each will should make it clear which assets it deals with.
3 The Cyprus will should be clear that it is to be dealt with under English Law
The real advice is-get a good lawyer in Cyprus and UK to deal with drawing them up. The last thing you want to leave your loved ones with is a problem!

[Devil]

Indeed HIC, I am aware of many people who 'baulk' at the cost of a will being drawn and go for the cheapest immediate (sometimes free) option rather than look further ahead (many years we hope) at the ramifications of a will loaded to the lawyer.

Spending maybe €200-300 now and drawing it correctly could save of much time and trouble in the future.

I agree 100% with what you say. My second last will was drawn up by one of these online advertisers. To add a codicil, I took it to a local lawyer and she pointed out to me, in very clear language, that it did not conform in any way to my wishes, regarding property. What she said was so obvious that I had her draw up a new one, in conformity to both Cypriot and Swiss law. This is in simple language that even I can understand!