Inheritance

The Greek Inheritance Law is regulated by a whole section of the Greek Civil Code, namely the articles 1710 to 2035.
There are two main categories in inheritance succession:
a) Succession by virtue of a testament (will).
b) Succession by virtue of law, which implies in cases that either there is no will, or the will has been claimed invalid.

a) Succession by virtue of a testament.

A person can decide freely what will become of his property by leaving a will, which can be of three legal forms:

•  The handwritten will. This is the most common and simple king of will. It has to be written entirely by the hand of the testator, dated and signed by him.
• In this case the will has to be published and verified before the competent Court at a public hearing. The public will. This has to be read and signed before a notary and three witnesses or before two Notaries and one witness.
•  The secret will, which has to be handed by the testator to a notary at the presence of three witnesses or another notary and one witness. The document must be enclosed in a sealed envelope.

b) Succession by law

If the deceased has not left a will of any kind, or the one left was claimed invalid, then the deceased succession is regulated by law. The inheritors are organized by law in 6 ranks, each one of which excludes the next:

•  The first heir rank concerns the children and the grandchildren of the deceased. Children come into inheritance first, if children have predeceased, then the grandchildren come into the inheritance.
•  The second heir rank concerns the parents and brothers or sisters of the deceased. If they have predeceased, then their children or grandchildren come into the inheritance.
•  The third heir rank concerns the grandparents. If they have predeceased, then the great grandparents come into the inheritance.
•  The fifth heir rank concerns the spouse. Spouse inherits the whole of the inheritance if no relatives of the previous ranks alive at the time of death of the deceased. Spouse also inherits: A share of ½ in all categories if any living relatives of any category alive at the time of the death of the deceased, except if any living relatives of the first rank, where spouse inherits a share of ¼. Spouse also inherits all movable property which was used during his or her common living with the deceased. This includes vehicles too.
•  The sixth heir rank is solely the Greek Public. If no surviving relatives of the deceased at the time of his or her death, the property is inherited by the Greek Public.

An heir is considered that has silently accepted the inheritance if not officially stated that he or she has renounced it within 4 months, this deadline elapsing from the time that the death of the deceased came to the knowledge of the inheritor. This deadline extends to 1 year for inheritors living permanently abroad, or if the deceased had his or her last residence abroad.