Trusts, Wills & Succession

The work

Wills, probate, trusts and cross-border estates

In short

Wills drafted to be valid in Cyprus and to say what you actually intend.
Probate and the administration of estates, with the least possible delay.
Trusts under the Cyprus International Trusts Law of 1992, and cross-border estates.

We prepare and execute wills, drafted to be legally valid in Cyprus and to say what you actually intend. We guide families through probate and the administration of estates, with the least possible delay.

On trusts we advise on formation, administration and planning for private and corporate clients under the Cyprus International Trusts Law of 1992, whether the purpose is wealth protection, estate planning or tax planning. That work is set out in detail on Cyprus International Trusts.

On succession we advise individuals and businesses on passing assets to the next generation, including cross-border estates where more than one country's succession rules apply.

For families in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States with property or an estate in Cyprus, this work has its own section, written in English: Cypriots abroad.

What to send us in a first enquiry

Send us a list of the assets and where they sit, and anything already signed. Cross-border estates are where the surprises are.

Wills

What a will has to do to be worth having

A will that is valid and unclear causes more trouble than no will at all, because it takes longer to argue about.

It has to cover what you actually own

The first exercise is not drafting. It is listing: what is owned, where it is, and how it is held. A property held jointly, a bank account held with somebody else, a pension or a policy with a nomination attached, and shares held through a company or a nominee do not all pass in the same way, and some of them may not pass under the will at all. A will drafted without that list is drafted in the dark, and the gaps appear years later when nobody can explain what was intended.

It has to name people who will actually act

Executors do the work, and the work is administrative, slow and occasionally contentious. Naming somebody as a compliment is a common mistake. Name people who are willing, who are likely to outlive you, who are reachable, and who are capable of dealing with an institution that wants documents. Where the estate has a foreign element, consider whether the person named can realistically deal with it from where they live.

It has to survive being read literally

Every ambiguity in a will is resolved after the one person who could explain it has died. Legacies described by reference to a thing that may be sold, gifts to a class of people that may change, and instructions that depend on a fact that may no longer be true are the recurring sources of dispute. So is silence: a will that deals with the main assets and says nothing about the remainder leaves the largest question unanswered.

It has to be findable

An original that nobody can locate is a practical problem of the first order, and it is entirely avoidable. Executors should know that the will exists and where it is kept, and the arrangement should not depend on a single person remembering. We hold originals for clients as a matter of course.

It has to be revisited

A will is a snapshot. Marriage, separation, a birth, a death, buying or selling a substantial asset, moving country, or acquiring assets in a second country are all events that can change how the document works, and some of them can change whether it works at all. A short review at those points costs very little. Discovering the problem afterwards costs a great deal.

Probate and administration

What administering an estate actually involves

Families expect a hearing and a reading. What there is instead is a long sequence of document gathering, and it is where the delay lives.

Administration begins by establishing what the deceased owned and owed, and that is rarely a short exercise. Bank accounts have to be identified and the institutions notified. Property has to be checked against the register rather than against what the family believes. Company shareholdings have to be traced, including holdings that sit behind a nominee. Debts, guarantees given, and any dispute the deceased was involved in all form part of the estate and none of them announce themselves.

Authority to deal with those assets has to be obtained before anything can be collected in or distributed, and that is what an application to the court produces. The application depends on documents: the original will where there is one, evidence of death, evidence of the estate's contents, and evidence about the people entitled. Where any of those sit abroad, obtaining them in a form that will be accepted here is often the longest single step, and it is the step to start first rather than last.

Once authority is granted the estate is collected in, liabilities are dealt with, and what remains is distributed to those entitled. Along the way the personal representatives are accountable for what they do, which is worth saying plainly to any family member who volunteers for the role expecting it to be a formality. Distributing early, distributing to the wrong person, or distributing before liabilities are known are the errors that turn an administration into a claim against the administrator personally.

Where estates get stuck

Property registered in the name of somebody who died years or decades earlier, with an intervening generation who also died
Heirs who cannot be located, or who are abroad and unwilling to engage with the paperwork
Undivided shares between siblings where one wants to sell and the others do not
An original will that cannot be found, or a will found that nobody knew existed
Assets in more than one country, each wanting its own process and its own documents
A dispute among the beneficiaries that has nothing to do with the estate and is being fought through it

Where the estate includes Cyprus property, the practical steps for putting the title into the heirs' names, and what has to be done before it can be sold, are set out under inherited property in Cyprus. Families outside Cyprus dealing with an estate here have their own section under probate from abroad.

Acting as trustee or personal representative

Taking the role on, and handing it over

People take on a trusteeship or an executorship because they are asked to, usually by somebody they could not refuse, and frequently without a clear picture of what the role involves. The duties are real, they are owed to other people, and they continue until the role is properly discharged or properly transferred. Anyone considering accepting should understand what the assets are, what the document requires of them, whether there is a dispute in the background, and what support they will have.

Handing the role on is its own exercise and it is more involved than it looks. Where a trustee is being replaced, the instrument that effects the change and the register entry that proves it are two different things, and the second is what counterparties will ask to see. The sequence, the point at which the notification typically stalls, and the corporate records that a change of trustee quietly affects are set out in changing the trustee of a Cyprus trust. The trust vehicle itself, and what it is used for, is covered under Cyprus international trusts.

We act for trustees and personal representatives in the role, which means advising on what may and may not be done, dealing with the beneficiaries who are unhappy about it, and keeping a record that stands up if the exercise is questioned later. We also act for beneficiaries who are not being told what is happening, which is a different position and, on the evidence of the enquiries we receive, a more common one.

Frequently asked questions about wills and estates in Cyprus

I have a will in my home country and property in Cyprus. Do I need a Cyprus will as well?

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. Send us both the foreign will and a list of what you own in Cyprus and we will tell you which arrangement fits.

How long does it take to administer an estate?

The variables are the documents rather than the law. An estate with a clear original will, assets in one country and cooperative heirs moves at the pace of the paperwork. An estate with a foreign element, a missing document, or heirs who disagree takes very much longer, and the additional time is almost entirely spent obtaining things rather than arguing about them. We give a realistic view once we have seen what the estate consists of.

The property is still in my grandfather's name. Can we sell it?

Not until the estate, and any intervening estate, has been administered and the property registered in the names of those now entitled. This is common and it is solvable, but it is a sequence of steps rather than a single application, and it should be started before a buyer is found rather than after. The practical route is set out under inherited property in Cyprus.

Can I be an executor if I live abroad?

It can be done and it needs planning, because an estate here generates documents, signatures and appearances that are awkward to handle from another country. Where an executor is abroad the usual solutions are a properly drafted power of attorney and a local advocate instructed to carry the administrative load. That is worth arranging at the outset rather than after the first document has to be signed in person.

The other beneficiaries will not tell me what is happening with the estate. What are my rights?

A beneficiary is not a bystander, and personal representatives are accountable for what they do with an estate. The first step is usually a properly framed written request for information, which resolves a good proportion of these situations because the recipient is more often disorganised than obstructive. Where it does not, there are steps available, and we will tell you what they are and what they are likely to cost before you take them.

What does a will cost?

A straightforward will is a fixed fee, quoted before we start. Cross-border arrangements, a trust, or an estate with a complicated ownership structure are quoted once we have seen the position, because the work is in the analysis rather than in the drafting. Either way you have the figure in advance.

How a matter runs

From first contact to implementation

Every matter is different, but the route is broadly the same. Knowing it in advance makes the cost and the timetable easier to judge.

First contact and conflict check

Review of the assets, where they sit, and anything already signed

Engagement and fee agreement before any work begins

Assessment of the position, including the reserved portion and any foreign succession rules

Drafting of the will or the trust instrument, or the application for a grant

Execution and safekeeping, or administration of the estate through to distribution

Implementation and monitoring of the agreed terms

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.

Written on this subject

Making a Will in Cyprus: What You Can Actually Leave, and to Whom

Wills

Changing the Trustee of a Cyprus Trust

Private client

Related practice areas: Corporate & Commercial and Real Estate & Construction.

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