The sister swore at a Cyprus consulate abroad, but the officer certified only her signature. With no jurat it was no affidavit, and the will challenge could not stand on it.
Klitos Platis, advocate
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An affidavit sworn abroad is an affidavit only if the officer certifies that it was sworn before him. On 21 October 2026 the Court of Appeal held that a verifying affidavit made at the Cyprus consulate in Canberra, on which the jurat had been struck out and only the signature certified, was no affidavit at all. The relatives challenging a will lost their attempt to have it accepted, and paid €4,000 plus VAT in costs of the appeal.
The judgment matters to every family with members abroad who take part in a Cyprus estate dispute, and to anyone who signs a sworn document outside Cyprus for use in a Cyprus court.
What happened
The challenge rested on one document signed abroad. In January 2023 seven relatives of a woman who lived in Nicosia before her death issued a probate action contesting her will of 22 June 2022. Under the Civil Procedure Rules then in force, Order 2, rule 13, the writ in a probate action could be sealed only after a plaintiff had filed an affidavit verifying it. One of them, the deceased’s sister, made that affidavit at the Cyprus consulate in Canberra on the day the action was filed.
The document was headed as an affidavit and opened with the words “I swear and say”. At its foot, on the left, the wording that should have recorded the oath was struck through with diagonal lines. On the right, a stamp and signature certified only her signature, with an express statement that the officer took no responsibility for the content of what it called a “document”, not an “affidavit”.
The defendants raised the point in an application for security for costs. The relatives then applied to the court to receive, complete or amend the document. The District Court refused, and they appealed.
Why the appeal failed
Without a jurat there is no affidavit. The Court relied on Andreas Themistocleous & Sons Ltd v Arizona Trading Co Ltd (1997) 1 ΑΑΔ 1354, followed in Arachchige in 2021: the absence of the jurat makes the document one without evidential value, and the omission is one of substance, not of form. The jurat is the certificate of the person taking the oath that the deponent swore to the truth before him, with the time and place. The deponent’s own words in the body of the document cannot stand in for it.
The rules for curing defects did not reach it. Order 39, rule 15, of the old Rules let a court receive an affidavit despite an irregularity in its form or jurat. The Court held that this covers minor defects, such as a missing “before me” or a jurat on a separate page. It does not cover a jurat that is not there. Nor could Order 39, rule 16, or Part 60 of the Civil Procedure Rules 2023 be used to amend it.
Nothing else changed that. Not the drastic consequences for the relatives, not the delay of the other side in raising the point, and not the fact that the court registry had accepted the document, since the registry’s role is administrative, not judicial. The right of access to a court under the Constitution and the European Convention is protected, the Court said, but it is subject to the rules of procedure.
The verifying affidavit was a condition of the action. The Court recalled Demetriou v Prodromou (1983) 1 CLR 301, which held the verifying affidavit in a probate action to be a condition precedent, and failure to comply to make the proceedings void from the start. The relatives argued that the modern approach is to look past technical defects. The Court replied that Themistocleous was a decision of substance, not formalism.
A stamp that certifies only your signature does not make a document an affidavit. The officer must certify that you swore it before him.
What changes under the 2023 Rules
The pre-filing affidavit has gone, the jurat has not. The Court observed that the Civil Procedure Rules 2023 contain no provision like Order 2, rule 13. On that observation, a probate action issued today is not held back by the need for that verifying affidavit before issue. Affidavits are still used throughout Cyprus proceedings, however, and the reason the document failed here was not the rule that required it but that it was never sworn in the eyes of the law.
What this means in practice
For anyone signing abroad: before you leave the consulate or the notary, read the last page. It should state that you swore it before the officer, give the date and the place, and carry the officer’s signature and title. If the officer will only certify your signature, stop and ask your Cyprus lawyer before anything is filed, because that is exactly what failed here.
For the lawyer receiving the document: check the original, not a scan, before it is filed. Here the defect was visible on the face of the page from the day the action was issued, and it surfaced only when the other side used it.
For a family planning a challenge to a will: time is rarely the only risk. The relatives here did not lose on the merits of the will, which no court has yet judged. They lost on a page that one of them signed in Canberra. If you are abroad, arrange the signing with the consulate in advance, and send the wording of the jurat with the document.
For the other side: a defect of this kind is worth raising early. The defendants did so in an application for security for costs, and it decided the matter.
Our litigation team acts in probate actions and estate disputes for clients in Cyprus and abroad. On contested wills generally, see our guide to contesting a will in Cyprus, and on who looks after the estate meanwhile, the administrator pending a will dispute.
Questions we are asked
What is a jurat?
It is the certificate at the foot of an affidavit, signed by the person who took the oath, stating when and where it was sworn and that it was sworn before him. The Court of Appeal held on 21 October 2026, following earlier case law, that without it a document is not a valid affidavit and has no evidential value.
Can a missing jurat be corrected later?
A minor defect in the wording of a jurat can be overlooked by the court. A jurat that is wholly absent cannot: the Court held that this is a matter of substance, not of form, so the rules allowing a defective affidavit to be received or amended do not apply. Acceptance of the document by the court registry does not change that.
I live abroad and must swear an affidavit for a Cyprus case. What should I check?
Before you leave the consulate or the notary, read the end of the document. It should say that you swore it before the officer, with the date and place, and carry the officer’s signature and title. A stamp that certifies only your signature, or that calls the paper a “document” rather than an affidavit, is the warning sign in this case.
Does the same rule apply to probate actions started today?
The case was decided under the old Civil Procedure Rules, which required a verifying affidavit before a probate action could be issued. The Court observed that the Civil Procedure Rules 2023 contain no equivalent provision. What makes a document an affidavit is a separate question, and the case law on the jurat on which the Court relied is not tied to that one rule.
What should my first message say?
The name of the deceased, the date of the will and of death, your relationship to the deceased, the country you live in, and whether any proceedings have been filed. If you have already sworn a document abroad, a scan of its last page is enough to start.
Sources
Need advice on your own matter?
Your first message costs nothing: within one working day we tell you whether we can help and what it would cost.
klitos@kleanthousplatis.com
Kleanthous & Platis LLC Registered law company Cyprus Bar Association HE 441973
Further reading
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.
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