My
inheritance in Greece
and how to claim it
By Christos ILIOPOULOS*
Athens, 4th June
2013
You do not live in Greece,
but you have recently been informed that you may be entitled to an
inheritance in this country. What do you do? Before contacting an attorney
who practices law in Greece, it is advisable that you think about your
answers to the initial questions that the attorney will ask you. Having
thought of the answers beforehand will help the attorney better assist you
in outlining what needs to be done in Greece, so that you claim what you
are entitled to.
The first questions will be
about the name of the deceased (including his parents’ names, if you
know them) and his/her relation to you. If you are a relative or not is
important to establish any intestacy or forced heirship rights,
irrespective of whether there is a Will or not.
The place of death is
another initial question, which will establish matters of private
international law, as well as the time limit to file the inheritance tax
declaration in Greece, if one is required. For any person who passed away
before 1995 and no one has filed already an inheritance tax declaration,
there is zero inheritance tax to be paid, no matter how big or valuable
the estate may be.
The place of birth of the
deceased is another matter which is required in order to find out his/her
citizenship of birth, which will determine to a great extent the law of
which country will be applied to establish who inherits and what
percentage. The deceased may have acquired another citizenship, apart from
the birth citizenship, and this will also be taken into consideration, but
under Greek law, if the deceased had the citizenship of Greece and of
another country, it is the Greek citizenship which prevails in order to
determine who are the heirs and what are their shares.
The place of residence of
the heir is also important, because if the heir resides outside of Greece,
or the deceased died outside of Greece, the original four-month period
from the passing to accept or renounce the inheritance is automatically
extended to twelve months. If nothing is done after the expiration of the
four or twelve months from the passing, the heir is considered having
accepted the inheritance and this may not be a good thing, in the rather
unusual case where the estate had liabilities which are higher than the
assets.
The closer relatives of the
deceased will be another issue, which in most cases will have to be sorted
out. We may need to know who are the children, spouse, or parents,
siblings, nephews, nieces and cousins of the deceased, at the time of his
passing. Anyone claiming an inheritance is not required to know all these
names. If a spouse and / or children exist, you do not have to declare
siblings or cousins etc. If the deceased was survived by a spouse, but not
by children, under Greek intestacy law we need to know the siblings and
the children of deceased siblings. But if the deceased did not have the
Greek citizenship, the rules change, and we will need the written opinion
of an attorney from the country of the citizenship of the deceased, to
enlighten us who inherits and what shares under that country’s law.
In most cases two witnesses
will be required to sign a simple affidavit about the names of the closer
relatives. We will also have to find the birth certificate and possibly
the family record of the deceased, if he/she was born in Greece. If
however the deceased was not Greek, we may not need the two witnesses and
the closer relatives of the deceased will be determined by the documents
provided from the country of citizenship of the deceased.
Even if the deceased did
not have the Greek citizenship and it is the foreign law which determines
who inherits what, it will still be Greek law which will be applicable to
transfer ownership and to pay taxes, for assets located in Greece.
Next important question
will be about the existence of a Will. We will need to know if a Will
exists, and if yes, where it was drawn up, where it was executed, in what
form such a Will exists and whether it has already been probated, in
Greece or elsewhere. If it is probated in another country, we will have to
probate it in Greece, as well, and in that case we will need it in
certified form, either with the Apostille stamp attached to it, or with
the certification of the Greek Consulate in the country of probation.
One of the most important
matters will be the number and nature of the assets that the deceased
owned at the time of his/her passing, mainly in Greece. Real estate
property (houses, apartments, lots, plots, lands etc.) are the first to be
evaluated and added to the estate. Bank accounts, valuable movables (jewellery,
paintings etc.) are also included in the estate.
Any proof about the
characteristics (location, measurements, bordering properties etc.) of
these assets will be the next thing to find. If the heir has any copies of
deeds or other legal documents, they may be of help to legally describe
the real estate properties which belonged to the deceased. Any bank
transcripts or letters or booklets will help locate bank accounts.
However, if the heir does not have any of the above, it is still possible
to find the deeds concerning the deceased, as long as we know the area(s)
of Greece where the property is located.
Finally, once the main
facts about all the above matters have been settled, the heir who does not
live in Greece will know that the attorney will be able to do all the work
on his/her behalf, with a power of attorney which the heir can sign either
in Greece, or at the Greek Consulate abroad, or at a notary abroad under
certain conditions. The attorney in Greece will have the obligation to
work diligently and to the best of his/her ability, serving the interests
of the client always within the law and applying the rule of client /
attorney privilege and not disclosing anything that may harm the interests
of the client.
*Christos
ILIOPOULOS, attorney at
the
Supreme Court
of
Greece , LL.M.
e-mail:
bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr
