FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
According to the Greek Inheritance law, when an owner of property in Greece passes away in intestacy, which means without having left a will, his heirs should accept the inheritance. Certain documents are required such as death certificate, certificate of next of kin, certificate of non-issued will granted by the Greek courts, etc. All the required documents should be submitted before the Relevant Tax Authorities which will estimate the assessed value of the inherited property in order to impose inheritance tax. When finished from the Tax Authorities, the heir should sign the deed of acceptance of inheritance before a notary. This deed is the title of ownership which should also be registered at the competent Land Registry. Our firm has handled numerous inheritance cases of people who live in the States and have been represented by us with no need for them to come to Greece. All steps of procedure are taken with a POA and our clients receive the documents in their home without having to travel to Greece.
- The holographic will which is written by the hand of the testator.
- The public will, which is executed before a Notary Public under the presence of three witnesses.
- The secret will which is written by the testator who deposits the will to the Notary Public under the presence of three witnesses.
Upon the testator’s death, the will should be probated before the competent Court or before the competent Embassy or Consulate. Anyone who holds a will and is informed about the testator’s death should take the necessary steps for the will to be probated before the competent Probate Court or Consulate.The procedure of the probation of the will can be accomplished through a special power of attorney (POA). We have represented numerous heirs all over USA and Canada with same will probation issues with no need for them to travel to Greece and deal with a totally unfamiliar to them legal system. The titles which concern real estate property are registered at the Land Registry where the property is located. A title search at the competent Land Registry conducted by a lawyer will show if there are titles (deeds), what the legal status of the property is, if the titles are in good legal order, if there are any legal burdens such as liens, etc imposed on the property, etc. The Land Registry can provide true copies of the titles if they have been registered.
According to the latest tax law, anyone who owns real estate property in Greece should get Greek Tax Id number (A.F.M.) and file income tax return annually. Certain forms should be filed in and submitted, such as e1, E2, E9 . Since 2011 all income tax returns should be filed electronically with a special tax pin number which is called “Kleidarithmos”. With a special power of attorney we can get the tax pin number for people who live abroad and take care of their tax filing in time
Basically yes. We have handled numerous cases of people who meet the requirements. With a special Power of attorney we represent our clients before all necessary authorities such as the Municipalities, the Prefecture, the Special Registry of Athens in order to complete their registration and get all the required certificates.
The money which is deposited in a Greek bank and has been taxed by the Greek Tax Authorities as an income, can certainly be wired to the USA. We have helped many of our clients with similar issues to wire their funds to their bank accounts in USA. Based on the Convention that has been signed between USA and Greece for avoiding being double taxed, the funds which have been taxed in Greece should not been taxed in the States. We can provide our clients with all the necessary information about that issue and help them with the export of their money.
With a special Power of Attorney we can represent you throughout the entire procedure of the sale. We conduct title research at the competent Land Registry in order to make sure that the titles of the property to be sold are in good legal order, we provide the buyer with all the required certificates and documents the seller should have at his disposal and in case he hasn’t got these documents, we take care for their granting from the competent Authorities, we are present and represent the seller before all the Authorities reg. the sale (Tax Authorities, Municipality, etc.), we are present and represent the seller at the execution of the sale, we prepare the draft of the deed of sale and make all the necessary explanations to the seller so that he will be aware of the terms and conditions of the deed of sale he will sign.