Without a will, a Cyprus estate goes to the classes in the First Schedule to Cap. 195, and a nearer class excludes a more remote one entirely. The surviving spouse takes a child's share where there are children, a half where the nearest relatives are within the third degree, three quarters at the fourth, and the whole beyond it. With no relative inside the sixth degree, the estate goes to the Republic.
Intestacy is not a fallback that divides everything evenly. It is a fixed order, and the two questions it asks are which class of relatives survives and what degree of kindred they stand in. Both are answered by the Wills and Succession Law, Cap. 195, and the answer does not bend to what the family agrees was intended.
The same rules decide something else that surprises people: they govern the statutory portion of an estate even where there is a will, because the part of the estate that cannot be given away passes exactly as it would on an intestacy.
The four classes, and the rule that one excludes the next
Section 46 provides that the class of persons entitled, and their shares where there is more than one, are as set out in the First Schedule, and it adds the rule that governs everything else: persons of one class exclude persons of a more remote class. A surviving child means the parents and siblings take nothing.
First class. The deceased's legitimate children living at the death, and the living descendants of any child who died in the deceased's lifetime. The children take in equal shares, and the descendants of a predeceased child take that child's share between them, per stirpes, which section 49 defines: they inherit the share their parent would have taken, not a share each.
Second class. The father and mother living at the death, or, if they are not living, the nearest living ancestor, together with the full and half brothers and sisters living at the death, and the living descendants of a sibling who predeceased. All take in equal shares, except that a half-brother or half-sister takes half the share of a full sibling, and the descendants of a predeceased sibling take per stirpes.
Third class. The nearest in degree of the deceased's ancestors living at the death. Where ancestors of the same degree survive on both the paternal and the maternal line, each line takes one half, divided equally within the line.
Fourth class. The nearest relatives living at the death up to and including the sixth degree of kindred, the nearer degree excluding the more remote, in equal shares.
The spouse's share sits outside the classes
The surviving spouse does not compete within a class. Section 44 gives the spouse a share that varies with who else survives:
- where the deceased left a child, or a child represented by descendants, the spouse's share is equal to the share of each of the children;
- where there is no child or descendant of one, but an ancestor or a descendant of an ancestor within the third degree, the spouse takes one half;
- where there is nobody within the third degree but there is an ancestor or descendant of one at the fourth degree, the spouse takes three quarters;
- where there is nobody within the fourth degree, the spouse takes the whole of the statutory portion and of the undisposed part.
Section 45 adds a point that matters where there was a marriage settlement: in computing the spouse's share, no account is taken of any movable or immovable property received from the deceased under such a settlement.
How a degree of kindred is counted
Section 48(1) gives the method, and it is arithmetic rather than judgement. Where two people descend one from the other in a direct line, count the generations between them: each generation is one degree, so a child is the first degree and a grandchild the second. Where they do not, count the generations from each of them up to their common ancestor and down again to the other: a brother is the second degree, an uncle the third, a first cousin the fourth, a second cousin the sixth.
Section 48(2) sets the table out in the Second Schedule, which is worth looking at before assuming a distant relative is too distant.
When there is nobody, and what happens then
Section 47(1) fixes the outer boundary: if no person related to the deceased within the sixth degree is living at the death, the deceased is treated as having died without heirs, and no relative beyond the sixth degree takes anything.
Section 47(2) then says where it goes. Failing heirs, and subject to the share of any surviving spouse, the statutory portion and the undisposed part of the estate become the property of the Republic. That is the reason a will matters even for someone who believes they have no close family: without one, and without a relative inside the sixth degree, the estate is not distributed among friends or charities but escheats.
Questions we are asked
My spouse died without a will and we have two children. What is my share?
Under section 44 of Cap. 195, where the deceased left children, the surviving spouse's share equals the share of each of the children. With two children that is a third to each of you, because the spouse counts as one more taker rather than taking a fixed fraction off the top.
There are no children. Do my late husband's parents inherit?
They can, and your share changes accordingly. The parents and the siblings are the second class in the First Schedule. Where the nearest relatives are within the third degree, section 44 gives the surviving spouse one half, and the other half goes to that class.
My brother died and one of his children had already died. What happens to that child's share?
It passes to that child's own descendants per stirpes. The First Schedule includes the living descendants of a child who predeceased, and section 49 explains what per stirpes means: they take between them the share their parent would have taken, not a full share each.
Do half-siblings inherit the same as full siblings?
No. In the second class all take in equal shares except that a half-brother or half-sister takes half the share of a full brother or sister.
My only relatives are distant cousins. Do they inherit?
It depends on the degree. The fourth class reaches the nearest relatives up to and including the sixth degree, the nearer excluding the more remote; a first cousin is the fourth degree and a second cousin the sixth. Beyond the sixth degree nobody inherits: section 47(1) treats the deceased as having died without heirs, and section 47(2) gives the estate to the Republic, subject to a surviving spouse's share.
Does any of this apply if there is a will?
Partly, and this is the point most often missed. The statutory portion, the part of an estate a will cannot dispose of, passes under these same rules. A will governs the disposable portion; what the law reserves goes to the classes above as though there were no will.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and their application can change, and individual circumstances differ. For advice on your own matter, contact Klitos Platis at klitos@kleanthousplatis.com or telephone +357 22 680 330.
Klitos Platis
Advocate, Partner
Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 22 August 2026
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