Wills Lawyers in Cyprus

Start from what is actually disposable

In short

The reserved portion comes first: establish what is disposable, then direct it deliberately.
A will that was not properly executed is an invitation to challenge it.
Assets in two countries mean coordinated wills, not one "international" one.

Kleanthous & Platis drafts and executes wills for people with Cyprus assets: residents, Cypriots abroad, and foreign owners of Cyprus property. The work starts from the one feature of Cyprus law that surprises almost everyone: part of the estate is reserved by statute for close family, and no clause overrides it. With a spouse and a child, the disposable part does not exceed one quarter of the net estate; with a spouse or a parent but no children, one half. What those fractions mean for your own plan is the first conversation, not the last.

How the reserved portion works in detail is set out in our article on what you can actually leave. This page is about the service: drafting, execution, coordination and custody.

Start with one page of facts

Send us who survives you, where your assets are, and what you want to happen. We reply within one business day with what the law allows, what it reserves, and a fixed fee for the will. Email office@kleanthousplatis.com or call +357 22 680 330.

Execution

Execution that survives challenge

Half of all will disputes begin with the signing ceremony, not the contents.

The Wills and Succession Law, Cap. 195, is exacting about form: the will is in writing, signed at its foot or end by the testator, the signature made or acknowledged before two or more witnesses present at the same time, the witnesses attesting in the presence of the testator and of each other, and every sheet of a multi-page will signed or initialled. Wills signed at home fail these requirements more often than anyone expects: witnesses who signed one after the other, a page nobody initialled.

Two more rules decide who may stand in the room. A gift to an attesting witness, or to the witness's spouse or child, is void, although the attestation itself stands, so the beneficiaries stay out of the witnessing. The executor, by contrast, may witness.

Where age or health could later invite a capacity challenge, we build the file that answers it in advance: execution at the office, a contemporaneous note, and where prudent a doctor's assessment on the day. Capacity is judged at the moment of execution, which is why the evidence made that day outweighs anything reconstructed years later.

Cross-border estates

Assets in more than one country

One will per jurisdiction, drafted not to revoke the others.

For anyone with assets, residence or nationality in more than one country, the first question is which law governs the succession. Under the EU Succession Regulation, which applies in Cyprus, the default is the law of habitual residence, and a person may instead choose in their will the law of their nationality. That choice can change the reserved-portion analysis entirely, in either direction, and it must be made properly, in the will itself.

The practical architecture for two-country estates is usually coordinated wills: each dealing with its own jurisdiction's assets, drafted so that neither revokes the other. For the administration side of a foreign connection, see Cyprus probate from abroad and our article on foreign wills and Cyprus property.

Custody and review

Where the will lives, and when it changes

A will nobody can find is a will that never existed.

Cyprus law provides a formal home for a will: the testator may deposit it in person with the probate registrar for safe custody, sealed in the registry's envelope and recorded in a register kept centrally. It cannot then be removed without the court's approval, except by the testator personally. We arrange deposit where clients want it, and otherwise hold executed wills in the firm's custody with certified copies where they belong.

A will is reviewed when life changes: marriage, divorce, children, a property bought or sold, a move between countries. The review is short and usually changes nothing, and the one time it does, it earns years of certainty.

The honest paragraph

Why make a Cyprus will at all

The reserved portion limits choices. The will still decides everything else.

Even where the reserved portion narrows your options, the will appoints the executor you trust, directs the disposable part deliberately, and spares your family the slower path of an estate with no will at all, where an administrator must first be appointed by the court before anything can be dealt with. For families abroad, that difference is measured in months. The honest advice is almost never "a will cannot help you"; it is "here is exactly what your will can and cannot do".

Common questions

Is a handwritten will valid in Cyprus?

If it satisfies the execution requirements, writing, signature at the end, two witnesses present at the same time, initialled sheets, yes. The practical problem with home-made wills is proving due execution years later, which is why the ceremony matters as much as the text.

Can my executor witness the will?

Yes. What a witness cannot do is take a gift under the will: a legacy to an attesting witness or to the witness's spouse or child is void, though the attestation itself remains good.

Does my foreign will cover my Cyprus assets?

Possibly, but "covered" and "convenient" are different things, and a foreign will drafted on assumptions of full testamentary freedom can collide with the Cyprus reserved portion. The usual answer is a coordinated Cyprus will. Bring the foreign will to the first meeting.

How often should the will be reviewed?

At every real life change: marriage, divorce, a child, a significant purchase or sale, a move. Absent those, a short review every few years keeps it aligned with the law and the facts.

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

Before instructing, send us the invoice, contract or loan documents and a short history of the debt. Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia. Telephone +357 22 680 330, office@kleanthousplatis.com or klitos@kleanthousplatis.com.

Request a consultation

Tell us briefly how we may assist

A few sentences is enough: which property, what stage the transaction has reached, and any date that matters. We reply within one business day. Please do not send confidential documents until we confirm we can act.

Request a consultation

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