Property ownership in Greece is restricted in that only Greek and European passport holders can own property. Only under special circumstances can a person not falling into either of these categories obtain ownership. It can to be done through a legal process which involves local Government Prefectures. There is a third type of ownership which is via an off shore company. The company must be registered in one of the EU member countries. It should be noted that the Greek Government does not look upon property purchased via an off shore company with approval and recent proposed laws lean towards imposing an “off shore” tax.  

This poses the question “if ones children are not Greek or EU passport holders, what happens to your property in the event of your death”.  

The Greeks have a system, termed in English, of Compulsory Inheritance. This mean that if you die without leaving a Will (and on the basis that you are married and have two children) ALL your assets whether you like it or not, will be left 2/8 to the surviving spouse and 3/8 to each child. How can non Greek or non EU persons now suddenly own property? On this issue there appears to be some sanity. The Greek government agrees that due to its Compulsory Inheritance laws, following a person’s death, property owned by the deceased can be inherited by persons other than Greeks and EU passport holders. Property can be owned by them and can be transferred into their names. Death duties, transfer tax and separation tax are payable following the “publishing” of the State Will. Separation tax occurs when the inherited property was owned by the deceased and others and now, in order to conform to the Will it needs to be reallocated or separated. All of this takes place if the deceased did not have a written Will. 

A Will can be put in place in three basic ways:- 

1. Prepared by a Notary, kept in the Notaries office and changed by Notaries amendment. The Will will be administered by the Notary following death.

2. Hand written (under instruction of a lawyer so that the basic requirements are correct, this is not complicated), kept by the lawyer and opened upon death and the contents disclosed to the beneficiaries by the lawyer. Amendments can be done by hand written documentation and given to the lawyer.

3. Hand written and kept by you only to be opened upon death.

Method one is the correct version but it is expensive to initiate and to maintain. Method three is too open to abuse. The second option appears to be reasonable and acceptable. 

There are definite benefits to making a Will. Here is an example. There are two properties, Building A and Building B both owned in the name of an individual. Legal advice suggests that particular properties or assets should be left to named persons. For example Building A to Child 1 and Building B to Child 2.  Now by Willing each of the two buildings as above the only tax that becomes payable is the death duty. This is on a sliding scale with the first 20,000 Euro being non taxable. Transfer and separation tax (if applicable) are not levied. This constitutes a considerable saving when you consider that transfer tax is 10% of Tax Office Valuation.

A consultant lawyer went on to say that it would be even better to leave three Wills, one for each child and one for the surviving spouse. It is often the case that following a death, the inheriting parties do not have the funds to pay the necessary taxes. Once again it would appear prudent to have three Wills so that if Child 1 had the funds he/she could go ahead and have the property transferred into his/her name and Child 2, who may not have the necessary funds, would not have the Will “published” and things would be “on hold” until funds were available. The separate Wills allows independents. The lawyer went on to say that many Wills stay in a state of limbo i.e. not published, for a considerable time and beneficiaries have been able to continue to operate and work the property assets fairly well under these circumstances.  

This is a complex subject. It is hoped that the above brief explanation is useful. It is suggested that you take independent and personal legal advice in order to clarify the legal situation surrounding your particular circumstances.

Disclaimer : This information is supplied as guidance only and the company can not be held responsible in any way for inaccuracies of any nature. Please take legal opinion to gain complete clarity.