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Morning Tanny,
I have been reading the posts on the Probates here and there is definitely a need to clarify the procedure.
It is always better to have Will in Cyprus for the assets you have in Cyprus.
Firstly, here is a list of the documents you need to give your Lawyer to start the Probate:
a. True Copy of the Will
b. Death Certificate
c. Copy of the photo-page of the decease’s passport
d. Full names, ages and addresses of all the beneficiaries
e. Letter from the Inland Revenue confirming that the deceased does not owe any money to the U.K. Tax Office and showing his/her liability to the U.K. Tax Office for the last three years.
f. Pension statements for the last three years.
g. Contract of Sale and/or title deed of all immovable property in Cyprus
h. Details of moveable property, i.e. vehicles, shares, bank accounts
i. Probate Order from the U.K., in the event of resealing
j. Alien card, in the event that the deceased was living in Cyprus.
We start with asking the Court for a Grant of Probate, and in this Grant it will state the name of the Executor.
If the family of the deceased does not have the documents noted in points (e) and (f) above, then we have to write to HM Revenue & Customs to ask for this. Once we have the documents (which from experience sometimes takes a couple of months) we can apply to the Cyprus Tax Office for a Tax Clearance Certificate, this does take a bit of time.
After this we can start to distribute the assets as per the terms of the Will. Once this is done we can apply to the Court to close the Probate. For this the beneficiaries have to sign that they are happy with the administration of the Probate and with the acts of the Executor and give their consent to close the Probate.
Each step taken has to be reported to the Court, which is why the Executors need to be residents of Cyprus as they need to appear in person each time.
If we have all the documents and it is a simple case, the Probate can be completed in a year, but if we need to first get documents from overseas and/or there is a delay with the Tax Authorities here it can take more time.
If there is no Will in Cyprus, but there is a Will in the U.K. covering the Cypriot property then Probate first needs to be finalized in the U.K. after which we must apply to the Court here to reseal the U.K. Will before the Probate procedure can start in Cyprus, as you understand this causes a lot of delays.
Haris Kalogirou
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