Making a will in Cyprus

A valid will must be made by a person aged 18 or over who is of sound mind, and must meet the formal requirements of Article 23 of the Wills and Succession Law, Cap. 195.

There are four requirements:

• The testator signs at the end or bottom of the will.
• The signature is made, or acknowledged by the testator, in front of at least two witnesses who are present at the same time.
• Both witnesses sign the will in the presence of the testator and of each other.
• On a will of more than one sheet, every sheet is signed or initialled by the testator and the witnesses.

A will that misses any of these requirements is invalid. Under Article 23A, an interested person can ask the Court to correct an error or omission in the formalities, and the Court decides whether that is just. Witnesses do not need to know the contents of the will. They confirm only that the testator signed in front of them.

Not under Cyprus law. Cap. 195 requires a will in writing, signed at the foot by the testator in front of two witnesses who are present at the same time, and signed by those witnesses.

A will made under Cyprus law without two witnesses is not valid, even where the testator's intention is clear. The Court can still correct an omission in the formalities (Article 23A). Cap. 195 makes one exception, for wills that English law accepts without these formalities: the privileged wills of soldiers and sailors under section 11 of the Wills Act 1837 and the Wills (Soldiers and Sailors) Act 1918 (Article 43).

A handwritten will made abroad can still be valid in form in Cyprus if it meets the law of the place where it was made, the law of the testator's nationality, domicile or habitual residence when it was made or at death, or, for immovable property, the law of the country where it lies (Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 650/2012).

You are not legally required to use one. A will you draft yourself is valid if it meets the requirements of Article 23.

A lawyer is worth using for two reasons. A will that misses a formality required by Article 23 is invalid, and the disposable portion limits are easy to breach without meaning to.

The Court can still put a missed formality right. On the application of any interested person, it can correct an error or omission in the formalities, or a clerical or arithmetical error in the text, where it is satisfied and considers it just. The corrected will is valid from the date it was signed (Article 23A).

The cost of legal services for making a will in Cyprus starts from €500 plus VAT (19%).

A will can be deposited for safe custody with the probate registrar of a District Court. The testator delivers it in person in a sealed envelope and signs an endorsement on it. The registrar issues a receipt with the will's register number.

Registration is optional and does not change whether the will is valid. It protects the original document, which must be produced to the Court before the terms of the will can be enforced.

A will speaks from the testator's death: it is read as if it had been made immediately before the death, except where the will shows a different intention (Article 36). Under the Administration of Estates Law, Cap. 189, it has no effect until the Court has granted probate (Article 14).

The executor is the person the testator names in the will to carry out their last wishes.

The executor applies to the District Court for probate. No grant is made until the Tax Department's certificate of no objection has been filed in court (Law 78(I)/2000, Article 7).

After the grant, the executor files an inventory of the estate in court, within the time the Court sets, and collects the assets. The executor then pays the funeral costs and the debts and carries out the will (Articles 40 and 41 of Cap. 189).

Yes. Under Article 27 of Cap. 195, being named as executor does not stop a person from acting as a witness.

If the executor is a beneficiary too, the gift to them is void under Article 25. An executor who inherits under the will should not witness it.

Cancelling a will is called revoking it. A will can be revoked in four ways:

• By a later will that expressly revokes the first.
• By a later will with provisions that contradict the first, to the extent of the conflict.
• By destruction, such as burning or tearing, by the testator, or by another person in the testator's presence and on the testator's instructions. The destruction must be done with the intention of revoking the will.
• By the testator marrying after making the will, or by the birth of a child where the testator had no children when the will was made. Neither applies where the will makes clear that the testator anticipated the marriage or the birth.

Changing a will does not require rewriting it. A change made after signing, for example a crossing-out, has effect only if it is executed in the same way as the will (Article 28). Where the change leaves the original words unreadable, those words do not take effect either.

The testator's signature and the witnesses' signatures go next to the change, in the margin or elsewhere in the will, or at the foot or end of, or against, a note that refers to the change. The note can be written at the end of the will or anywhere else in it.

The other way is a codicil: a document that explains, adds to, changes or revokes the will in whole or in part, signed and witnessed in the same way as a will.

A will can be challenged where it was not made in the form Article 23 requires or the testator lacked capacity (Article 22). In either case the whole will is invalid, but the Court can correct a formal defect under Article 23A. A will, or any part of it, caused by coercion or fraud is void, and so is one caused by undue influence (Article 29).

An action on the validity of a will cannot be brought more than eight years after the testator's death. For a claimant who was abroad, the period does not end until one year after they learned, or could reasonably have learned, of the death, or returned to Cyprus (Law 66(I)/2012, Article 9).

A will that gives away more than the disposable portion is not void for that reason. The gifts are cut back in proportion until they fit within it (Article 41(2)). Gifts to a spouse who survives with no child or other descendant and no parent are not cut back.

Cyprus has a forced heirship regime. Where Cyprus law governs the succession and the deceased leaves a child or a descendant of a child, ¾ of the net estate is the statutory portion. It goes to the spouse, who takes the same share as each child, and to the children, with the descendants of a child who died earlier taking that child's share. The remaining ¼ is the disposable portion, which the testator may leave to anyone.

Where the deceased leaves no child and no descendant of a child, the disposable portion changes:

• A spouse, or a father or mother, but no child or descendant of a child: up to ½ of the estate.
• No spouse or parent, and no child or descendant of a child: the whole estate.

The EU Regulation on Successions is Regulation (EU) No 650/2012. Cyprus applies it to deaths on or after 17 August 2015.

It settles which country's courts deal with the succession and which country's law applies. It creates a European Certificate of Succession, which heirs, legatees with direct rights in the succession, executors and administrators can use to prove their status, rights or powers in another member state. The Certificate takes effect in all member states without any special procedure (Article 69), and its use is optional (Article 62). Denmark and Ireland are not bound by the Regulation.

The default is the law of the country where the deceased had their habitual residence. A testator may choose the law of their nationality instead. The choice is made in the will, in an express declaration or through terms that show it. People with more than one nationality may pick any of them.

The chosen law can be the law of a non-EU country. The United Kingdom does not take part in the Regulation and is not bound by it. A UK national habitually resident in Cyprus can still choose UK law to govern their succession (Article 22).

Which part of the UK's law then applies, for example English law, follows the UK's internal conflict rules or, where there are none, the part of the UK the person was most closely connected with (Article 36).

Yes, as to form. Under Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 650/2012, a written will is valid in Cyprus if its form meets the law of the country where it was made, the law of the testator's nationality, domicile or habitual residence, or, for immovable property, the law of the country where the property lies. A will signed in England under English law passes that test.

To deal with assets in Cyprus, an executor who holds a grant of probate from a court in the United Kingdom can have it resealed by a District Court under the Probates (Re-sealing) Law, Cap. 192. A copy of the grant is produced and deposited with the court, and the resealed grant has the same effect in Cyprus as a Cyprus grant.

An executor without a UK grant applies for probate in Cyprus instead. Where the deceased had no fixed home in Cyprus, the application goes to the probate registry in Nicosia.

Yes, this is possible. Because the two legal systems can conflict, the safer route is a separate UK will covering your UK assets and a Cyprus will covering your Cyprus assets.

Yes. Under Article 34 of Cap. 195, a father or a mother can appoint by will a guardian for a child who is a minor, or who is under another incapacity or disabled.

The Court can remove that guardian for sufficient reason and appoint someone else.

No. Estate duty was repealed for deaths on or after 1 January 2000, and the Tax Department charges no inheritance tax, whatever the size of the estate.

An estate still has steps and costs. Within six months of the death, the deceased's legal representatives file a statement with the Tax Department (Law 78(I)/2000, Article 6). It covers the assets and liabilities in Cyprus and abroad of the deceased and the deceased's dependants. A spouse who had no taxable income at the death is included too, and a copy of the will goes with it.

The legal representatives are the executor or administrator, every lawful heir, anyone who takes or deals with the assets and anyone applying for a grant. Without the Tax Department's written authorisation, no asset of the deceased can be transferred and no bank deposit withdrawn (Law 78(I)/2000, Article 5(3)). Probate has court and professional costs.

Before the District Lands Office registers inherited property in the heirs' names, it asks, among other things, for these documents and fees:

• the tax clearance certificate on form N.313 and, for a death after 2000, form T.F.704, both from the Tax Department
• certificates that the local charges on the property are paid, such as the municipal or community fee and the sewerage charges
• a fee of €10 per property for the application and €5 per property for each heir's or legatee's title
• for a legatee who is not a lawful heir, a fee on the property's 2013 assessed value: 1/10,000 of it for a relative up to the third degree and 3/1,000 beyond that

No stamp duty is payable on documents signed on or after January 1, 2026. For a power of attorney signed by any principal before 2026, the Lands Office asks for the stamp duty to have been paid.