Cyprus Will for Expats & Foreign Residents

A will for the assets here, built around one questionnaire

A British expat with a house in Cyprus, a UK national with property here who lives elsewhere, a foreign resident with accounts and a company: each holds assets that a will made at home may not deal with well, or at all. We draft the Cyprus will as part of our Private Client practice: confined to the assets here, coordinated with the will abroad, and saying expressly which law governs.

How to start

Complete the questionnaire below. Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your questionnaire, and no work starts before you have the figure and approve it.

Start the questionnaire

Why a separate Cyprus will

Since 2015, silence chooses for you

The exemption foreign nationals once relied on, section 42 of the Wills and Succession Law, Cap. 195, was deleted in 2015. What governs the estate now is Regulation (EU) No 650/2012: by default, the law of the State where you were habitually resident at death, which for an expat living in Cyprus means Cyprus law, reserved portion included. Article 22 lets you choose the law of your nationality instead, and that choice exists only if it is written into a will.

A foreign will can be admitted for Cyprus purposes, but administering Cyprus assets under it is slower, and a will drafted at home without the Cyprus assets in mind may say nothing about the choice at all. The background is set out in do British expats need a Cyprus will, and the reserved portion fractions for a given family are on the forced heirship calculator.

The most common damage is self-inflicted: a later will with a general revocation clause cancelling an earlier will made in another country, without anyone intending it. Coordination between the two documents is most of the value of doing this properly.

The service

What the fixed fee includes

A review of your existing will, wherever it was made, for what it does and does not do in Cyprus. A Cyprus will confined to the assets here, drafted so that it and the will abroad do not revoke one another, with an express statement of the governing law, and the Article 22 choice of your national law where the analysis supports it.

Execution in the form the Wills and Succession Law requires, arranged at our offices in Nicosia or coordinated where you are, and lodging of the will for safe custody at the probate registry if you wish. You receive the signed original or the deposit receipt, and a plain summary of what the will does.

How it works

Three steps, the first is ten minutes

1. The questionnaire. Nationality, residence, what you hold in Cyprus, what wills already exist, and who survives you. Ten minutes, no documents needed at this stage.

2. The figure. Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your questionnaire. If the position needs anything beyond a will, a trust or a restructuring of ownership, we say so at this stage and quote separately, so the will fee is never a door into open-ended work.

3. The will. Draft for your review, execution arranged, custody if you want it. Most wills are ready for signature within days of the fee being approved, not weeks.

The questionnaire

Tell us the shape of things

Short answers are fine. Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your questionnaire.

Please do not send documents at this stage; the questionnaire is enough for the fee.

Your name *

Please enter your name.

Email *

Please enter an email address we can reply to.

Nationality *

Please give your nationality.

Country you live in

What you hold in Cyprus

Do you already have a will?

Who would survive you

This is what decides whether the Cyprus reserved portion arises, and in what fraction.

Telephone

Any deadline

Anything else

Anything that matters: roughly what the Cyprus assets are, where the existing will was made, what you want to happen.

Fields marked * are required.

Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your questionnaire. Sending it does not create a lawyer and client relationship, and no fee is due unless you approve the figure and instruct us.

Common questions

Is my English will valid in Cyprus?

A foreign will can be admitted for Cyprus purposes, so validity is rarely the real problem. The practical problems are speed and interaction: administering Cyprus assets under a foreign will is slower, and a will drafted at home without the Cyprus assets in mind may say nothing about which law governs them. A separate Cyprus will confined to the assets here, drafted so that neither will revokes the other, usually serves the estate better.

Do I need a separate Cyprus will for my property here?

Often it is sensible, and the answer depends on what the foreign will says and what assets sit here. A separate Cyprus will dealing only with the Cyprus assets can make administration here considerably faster, but the two documents have to be drafted so that neither revokes the other and nothing falls between them.

Can I choose English law to govern my estate?

Under Article 22 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, a person may choose the law of a State whose nationality they hold to govern the succession, and the choice has to be made in the will. Without it, the default under Article 21 is the law of habitual residence, which for a foreign resident living in Cyprus means Cyprus law. Whether the choice improves the position is worked out on the facts before the will is drafted.

Does the Cyprus reserved portion apply to me?

It may, if Cyprus law governs the succession. The exemption foreign nationals once relied on, section 42 of Cap. 195, was deleted in 2015. Which relatives survive determines whether a reserved portion arises and in what fraction, and whether a choice of national law changes the outcome is part of what the questionnaire establishes.

How is the will signed and stored?

The will is executed in the form the Wills and Succession Law requires, and it can be lodged for safe custody at the probate registry. Execution is arranged at our offices in Nicosia, or coordinated where you are, depending on where you will be when the will is ready.

What does it cost?

The fee is fixed, not hourly. Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your questionnaire, and no work starts before you have the figure and approve it.

Who leads this work

Between them the partners bring more than 40 years of practice in Cyprus. Every matter is run by one of them.

Andreas Kleanthous

Partner

Litigation, personal injury and insurance claims, debt recovery, administrative law, real estate, wills and probate.

Klitos Platis

Partner

Litigation, corporate and commercial matters, property and construction, including pleadings, interim applications and trial preparation.

Written on this subject

Start with the questionnaire

The figure comes before the work

Complete the questionnaire above, or write to us with the same information in a few sentences. Fixed fee quoted within 24 hours of receiving your questionnaire.

Start the questionnaire

Or write to us directly at office@kleanthousplatis.com, or call +357 22 680 330.

Cyprus Wills for Expats and Foreign Residents