Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Can anybody update this information please. Ours are done but a while back. Have the template I have passed on to friends.
Have you made a TRNC Will? Updated 07 January 2013

It is imperative that you have a TRNC Will lodged with the Courts. We can supply you with a basic Will template in English which you can do yourself.

You need an original Will, Post Office revenue stamps totalling 48 TL (42 plus 6) and possibly a brown A5 envelope. You must go to the local Court office with your passport and two witnesses with their passports and sign the Will document in front of the clerk. The details are recorded in the register, the Will is stamped and put in a sealed envelope and you are issued with an official receipt.

The Court office is now only accepting Will registrations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are, during Summertime, are only open in the mornings no earlier than 1000.

The Girne Court Registrar's office is on the first floor on the Post Office side of the building. Up the stone stairs, turn right towards the main road and turn right again. Turn left into another building and the Registrar's office is on your left.

If your lawyer has already prepared a Will for you please ask them for the Court receipt.

Why is it 'imperative that you have a TRNC Will lodged with the Courts.'? Does a will have to be lodged to be legal?

Yes I would expect that it does as otherwise who is to say who wrote and signed the will. By lodging it you are present and the wording can then not be tampered with.

'I would expect that it does ....' whilst I can understand your view, it doesn't mean that it is the law in TRNC. Don't have to do that (register your will at a court) in the UK and the system has functioned well for the past few hundred years.
It's difficult enough to get people to make a will as it is. I dread to think how many fewer would bother if you also had to take your will to a court with your ID and 2 witnesses with their ID as well (having gone via the Post Office to get stamps). What happened to the 'it's the same as UK law' we used to hear so often?

Has anyone experienced or heard of a will being ruled invalid because it wasn't so registered in the TRNC?

Hector wrote:Why is it 'imperative that you have a TRNC Will lodged with the Courts.'? Does a will have to be lodged to be legal?

we were advised by Unsal the Noter The court whatever happens will always be there, I maybe dead when you die but the court will always be recognised and there.

My wife and I updated our TRNC-based wills in mid-2014 and lodged them in the Girne Court. It is not an imperative, but the TRNC judicial system, apparently, elevates children in the event of probate. Hence it may be prudent for expats to register their wishes, albeit I have no proof their system applies to expats in the TRNC.

We did not require our signatories to be with us when we registered the wills - as they were, by then, back in the UK. The female civil servant dealing with us was quite happy they were not there. Wills, passports, and stamps were all we needed but we took our house purchase contract, PTP, and marriage certificate just in case.

Within our wills, we listed details of the property, banking, vehicles, chattels and specific items for passing on in an order of priority if either passed first or we both died together.

I hope this helps, but the system changes - as we all know.

I totally agree that everyone should have a will wherever they live and also to check whether a will made in the UK will cover you in another country. If in doubt make a separate will to cover your estate in that country i.e. the TRNC. I am not against registering and storing one's will in the TRNC court, as rightly pointed out it is likely to be safer stored in the court then possibly your own house especially if it caught fire.

What I'd like to know is what the actual TRNC legal position is. Does a will have to have been registered in court to be valid?
Do you actually need to take 2 witnesses with you when you so register?

Hector - in a word : NO!

(According to the BRS website, which says "Once the will is duly signed and witnessed, you may wish to lodge your will at the District Court Probate Registry").

Read all about it here and here

Thank you for that information Most helpful.