My inheritance in Greece and how to claim it
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment