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Wills Online in 24 Hours: Greece Overhauls Inheritance Procedures
🇬🇷 Greece /Economy & Trade

Wills Online in 24 Hours: Greece Overhauls Inheritance Procedures

From Ta Nea · (1d ago) Greek Positive tone

Translated from Greek, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Greece has digitized the process of publishing wills, allowing for same-day or next-day completion.
  • New regulations extend inheritance rights to cohabiting partners, with specific conditions regarding duration of the relationship and application timelines.
  • The changes are facilitated by the General Registry of Wills platform, diathikes.gr, which has processed over 30,000 unpublished wills since its launch.

Ta Nea is reporting on a significant modernization of Greece's legal framework concerning inheritance, specifically focusing on the digitization of wills and the expansion of rights for surviving partners. This initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the Hellenic Notarial Associations, aims to streamline bureaucratic processes and align the legal system with contemporary social realities. The introduction of the General Registry of Wills and the online platform diathikes.gr marks a pivotal shift, promising to reduce the often lengthy waiting periods for will publication to mere hours.

Digital publication of wills and new regulations for inheritance rights bring significant changes for citizens, strengthening respect for the testator's last will and adapting inheritance law to modern social conditions.

Describing the overall impact of the new legal changes.

The new legislation, enacted through laws 5221/2025 and 5264/2025, not only accelerates the publication of wills but also broadens the scope of inheritance rights. Cohabiting couples, previously in a less secure legal position, now stand to gain inheritance rights similar to those of a surviving spouse, provided certain conditions are met, including a minimum of three years of cohabitation. This is a crucial development for many Greek families, acknowledging the evolving nature of relationships and ensuring greater respect for the deceased's final wishes, even in the absence of a formal marriage certificate.

The acceleration is due to the operation of the General Registry of Wills, which was implemented on November 1, 2025, by the Ministry of Justice in cooperation with the Coordinating Committee of Notarial Associations of Greece.

Explaining the mechanism behind the faster will publication process.

From a Greek perspective, this reform is particularly welcome. It addresses long-standing frustrations with the slow pace of legal procedures and offers a more accessible and efficient system for citizens. The fact that the platform is managed by the Notarial Association of Athens-Piraeus-Aegean and Dodecanese, under the Ministry's supervision, ensures a degree of local control and understanding of the specific needs of the Greek populace. The statistics, showing over 30,000 unpublished wills registered and over 8,000 requests for publication since November 2025, highlight the immediate impact and demand for such a modernized system. This move signifies Greece's commitment to digital transformation within its public services, making legal processes more transparent and user-friendly for its citizens.

From November 1, 2025, to April 14, 2026, 30,011 unpublished wills were registered in the Registry of Wills, of which 8,426 requested publication.

Providing statistics on the usage of the new registry.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Ta Nea in Greek. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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