Inheritance Law is being modernized and reformed with innovative provisions after 80 years, while at the same time adapting to social, economic, and demographic changes, to the transformations of the traditional institution of the family, and to legislative changes in recent years such as civil partnership agreements, same-sex marriage, etc.

On Wednesday, Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis and Deputy Minister Ioannis Bougas are expected to present the changes reached by the Committee for the Reform of Inheritance Law (Book V of the Civil Code), chaired by Apostolos Georgiadis, emeritus professor of the Athens Law School, who will also attend the bill’s presentation. These provisions will also be discussed at the Cabinet meeting.

Proto Thema presents the final amendments and reforms to Inheritance Law, including the introduction of the institution of inheritance contracts. According to the new provisions, the testator can now ensure during their lifetime that their inheritance—which includes not only movable and immovable property but also other rights such as intellectual or industrial property—will pass to the persons they choose to protect and secure.

In other words, while still alive, a person will be able to regulate with legal rules the property they will leave behind. At the same time, the 80-year-old regime governing the statutory share for the spouse and children is changing. The new provisions also address the major issue of debts owed by the deceased.

Thus, heirs will no longer need to renounce property left to them by a parent in order to avoid assuming that parent’s debts to banks, tax authorities, etc., and properties will no longer be abandoned and left to deteriorate over time.

The current framework for wills also changes, with safeguards introduced to stop the phenomenon of forged wills—used by criminal groups to exploit the property of elderly individuals, whether they reside in nursing homes or not.

According to the drafters of the legislative changes, the new provisions of Inheritance Law align with social and economic changes along four main axes:

■ Protection of certain individuals who are not related by blood to the deceased, through adaptation of inheritance-succession provisions to the evolving structure of the family.

■ Restriction of the statutory heirs, which currently limits freedom of disposition.

■ Removal of the absolute prohibition on inheritance contracts, permitting easier planning of post-mortem inheritance relationships and prevention of conflicts among heirs.

■ Amendments to the law on wills, including explicit provision for digital wills.

Inheritance contracts and waivers

For the first time, inheritance contracts are established. These are agreements made during the testator’s lifetime in which a person can waive or offset inheritance rights in advance.

Under the new rules, individuals may, possibly in exchange for compensation, waive their future inheritance rights from their parents or other relatives.

The testator may freely agree with their heirs (spouse, civil-partner, children, grandchildren, etc.) on how their movable, immovable, or intangible property—such as copyrights for musical compositions, songs, books, industrial patents, etc.—will be distributed, except where statutory shares apply.

More specifically, the testator may exclude one or more heirs from their estate, or offset the value of property, money, etc., already given or to be given to relatives, such as a parental property transfer.

The testator may also leave a larger share of their estate to a relative on the condition that the latter will provide care to the testator or their spouse in the future.

The spouse may also agree to have her statutory share transferred to their children, who in return will be obliged to provide her with a lifelong income after the father’s death. These inheritance-waiver contracts will be drawn up before a notary public and will be binding on all heirs after the testator’s death, overriding statutory-share rules.

Inherited debts

The entire system of heir liability for the deceased’s debts is revised, and judicial debt liquidation is strengthened. Today, if the deceased leaves both property and debts, heirs who accept the inheritance must assume the debts.

Under the new regulations, heirs may accept the inheritance but will be liable for debts only up to the value of the inherited property. Inheritance contracts will be notarized and published in the Wills Registry after the testator’s death.

This prevents properties from passing to the State when heirs renounce them due to the deceased’s debts.

In practice, after an inventory and valuation of the inherited property, debts will be paid by auctioning one inherited property, and the remaining assets will stay with the heirs.

To improve the management of inherited property, any co-heir may ask the court to buy out another co-heir’s inheritance share at a price determined by the court if no agreement exists.

Statutory share

Significant changes are made to the statutory share—the minimum portion of the estate reserved for spouses, children, parents, etc. Currently, the surviving spouse receives 25%, and the children 75%.

Under the new rules, the spouse’s statutory share increases to 33.3%, leaving 66.7% for the children—an increase of 8.3%, based on the rationale that the surviving spouse requires greater protection.

If a will exists and an heir receives no share of the estate, they will not acquire rights in the property but will be entitled to financial compensation equal to the appropriate value. For example, if a parent leaves a property to one child and nothing to the other, the second child may claim 25% of the property’s value in money.

The rationale is to avoid splitting properties into multiple undivided shares that impede their use and lead to legal disputes.

The grounds for disinheritance are also modernized, including the major ground of the heir’s ingratitude toward the deceased.

Wills

The updated Code of Civil Procedure already introduced changes such as recording published wills on an electronic platform and issuing inheritance certificates through lawyers rather than magistrates. Under the new changes, the absence of a date on a handwritten will will result only in potential invalidity unless another ground for invalidity exists.

Protection is added to prevent the exploitation of elderly individuals in nursing homes by banning persons associated with these facilities (directors, nurses, staff, etc.) from receiving assets via handwritten wills from residents.

People with serious speech disabilities will now be able to make a public will using mechanical or electronic means that allow their spoken words to be transcribed.

Public and secret wills will be executed before a notary with only two witnesses, without the alternative of a second notary. Regarding revocation, taking back a secret will from a notary will no longer count as revoking a handwritten will.

To combat forged wills, a new provision states that a handwritten will will have no legal effect before being formally validated if the heirs are only relatives or if the will is published more than two years after the testator’s death.

It is also clarified that a will in favor of a spouse is voidable in cases of consensual divorce, and similarly for civil-partners if the civil-partnership agreement has been dissolved.

Executor of the will – minors

Another provision allows the testator to appoint an executor with purely administrative powers, even if there are no specific instructions in the will. The rule granting minors one year after reaching adulthood to renounce an inheritance is abolished.

Disinheritance

The institution of automatic disqualification from inheritance is reintroduced for heirs previously convicted of serious crimes against the life, health, or sexual freedom of the deceased. The list of offenses that may justify a court declaring a person unworthy of inheritance is also expanded.