LSUK were talking with a client who is in the process of acquiring a property in Cyprus, primarily as an investment. He has been told that he must have a Cypriot Will for which he is being charged rather handsomely. We agree that he does need a will in that country because the UK will covers law in the UK and not beyond.
Bearing in mind the quite similar regimes and language etc, he asked ‘is it possible for us to produce a simple Will in the UK which would satisfy the necessary requirements in Cyprus.’
‘If not does anyone have any knowledge of any UK based Cypriot lawyers who could undertake this work?’
The existing UK Will, will of course ideally be amended to reflect this Cypriot Will. What this means is; the first part of most wills says’ I revoke all other wills’. When a client has a property abroad and we recommend they have a will in that country just to cover the property, we amend their UK will to say that the other foreign will covering the will is not revoked.
We can’t do his will in Cyprus as we don’t have the professional insurance for it. It’s essential that we have professional indemnity cover so that if we ever make a mistake (and we haven’t yet!) then a client’s claim will be met, financially, if there is any loss. This is a definite reassurance we require to provide to our clients.
We do have a contact solicitor/lawyer in Cyprus who will write the will covering the property there only. We were quoted £180CYP + VAT (15%) plus stamp duty of £10 per Will. The offices are in Larnaca and Pernera, so not so good for a Paphos based client, unless your car hire takes you across the island.
At the end of the day we strive to help all of our clients in every way possible.
Filed under: Legal Advice, Wills
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