Wills in Cyprus.

[Chaddy]

Our Cypriot will is done.Or is it that simple?

If i pop my clogs first,as stated in our will everything goes to the wife,the house,the bank account,even our horseless carraiges all of which are in joint names.
If the wife should have a meeting with the grim reaper first,visa versa all goes to yours truly.

Ah,not so simple i am told ( down the pub of course ) it will have to still go through probate which can take so long we will probably both be going through the pearly gates before probate is sorted

Any advice please?

[71 Trans Am]

This must have been covered a dozen times on here ( Probably while you were down the pub ) Someone may advise you ref English or English speaking solicitors Etc.

[daveg]

We were advised and have put everything in a Trust here in Cyprus....
This means no probate will be necessary when one or both of us go cold....
It will make it easier for our offspring to sort out our affairs from the UK....as tax clearance has already been done etc....

[jeba]

EU citizens can choose to have the inheritance laws of their home countries applied, which I did. For Germans, this means that there is no need for a solicitor and dealing with probate. All they have to do is to write a will by hand and to state in it that German law shall be applied.

[Firefly]

It may well be different in Cyprus, I don't know.

MOH and I had the same wills as you Chaddy, when my husband passed away in the UK, all I had to do was to supply a copy of his death certificate, to the relevant departments, his name was then simply removed from everything.

That was all, I did not need probate.

[Uncle D]

It's really only a problem with ownership of property, if its both spouses then probate takes 1 to 2 years. However involving multiple benefactors can drag it out. Basically if one dies the other should sell and send money to kids/grandkids etc.

[trevnhil]

My wife died in March 2023. Her will stated that it was to be done according to UK rules. There were bank accounts in Cyprus and in the UK.. As advised by friends both vehicles were in joint names..
There was a funeral company involved here to send the body to the UK. And there was a funeral company involved in the UK to deal with the cremation and the service there

Probate is still going on after almost 20 months. I am still waiting to be reimbursed for the funeral expenses that I paid, which were over 7,000. The two cars proved problematic because as they were in joint names I cannot sell either of them until probate has been granted.. It is a bit of a minefield.

[WHL]

Get a professional to write your will up, ask a question on a forum and you will get a hundred different answers .

[MAE68]

We are considering handing our property over to our two children now before our demise.
my understanding is that is relatively easy to do and inexpensive providing we do it ourselves with land registry Cyprus has completely different rules to uk in as much as we can still use property etc without paying a commercial rent. Has anyone done this in recent years?

[Paul]

Don’t go to a solicitor they will put them self's down as executor without asking you.
They also charge a lot for writing a will.
The first wills for my late wife and me cost us €300 each.
And they take part of your estate money as there fee’s, and it’s not a small amount ether.

[trevnhil]

Get a professional to write your will up, ask a question on a forum and you will get a hundred different answers .

I would agree with that.. We did have a well-recommended professional by the way

[josef k]

I believe much of the probate delay is down to the tax office. Before probate can be granted the tax office have to be happy that the tax affairs of the deceased are in order and paid up. This causes delay as the tax office have a backlog.

[WHL]

Don’t go to a solicitor they will put them self's down as executor without asking you.
They also charge a lot for writing a will.
The first wills for my late wife and me cost us €300 each.
And they take part of your estate money as there fee’s, and it’s not a small amount ether.

Not correct.

[kansas]

DaveG, we are thinking of doing the same thing - a trust. Any chance you could PM us to advise how you went about it and who did you see. Thanks.

[Chaddy]

DaveG, we are thinking of doing the same thing - a trust. Any chance you could PM us to advise how you went about it and who did you see. Thanks.

Likewise DaveG if you could also PM me also,chaddy.

[daveg]

Will pm details later today......
David

[clive of payia]

Whilst on this subject, in order to make things easier for your children, has anybody added their (adult) children(s) names to their title deeds? This is Cyprus, is it just a case of going to the land registry with the obvious documents? Can it be done at the more friendly Citizens Advise Bureau?

Thanks.

[daveg]

Chaddy and Kansas, have sent you pm...

[Howden Tiger]

Chaddy and Kansas, have sent you pm...

Sorry to hijack your posts, please could you dm me also! Many thanks, Ian.

[trevnhil]

Whilst on this subject, in order to make things easier for your children, has anybody added their (adult) children(s) names to their title deeds? This is Cyprus, is it just a case of going to the land registry with the obvious documents? Can it be done at the more friendly Citizens Advise Bureau?

Thanks.

As far as I know, you cannot ADD anyone to a title deed. It is a document saying how much of the property is owned by the named person.
If you want to give the whole of the share to one or more of your children you can do that, almost free of charge.
If you want to give a child (adult) half of the share then two share documents have to be made showing each person owning Half the property..
But this is really no help when you die.