Changes to Kochan after bereavement

[Twaddle]

I am looking for confirmation of what is necessary to be done with regard to having my Kochan altered following a bereavement.
My wife passed away last year. We are joint owners of a property and are both named on the Kochan.
I have no intention of selling the property but thought that it might be a good idea to have the Kochan in my name only.
We made wills in the TRNC with regard to all our property and possessions and I am the sole beneficiary of my wife's will.
I have made some enquiries with a couple of lawyers but I am being quoted silly money. They want to go to probate and establish estates etc.
Here in the UK all I needed to do was submit a form and the death certificate to the land registry. There was no fee for this service. I did not need to get probate as all property in the UK was in joint names.
Can anyone who has been through the same thing advise me as to what they did to change the names on their Kochan.
I am minded to just leave things as they are rather than pay a lawyer up to £3,500 but worry about leaving problems for my kids when I pop off (hopefully not for many years!)

[ozankoys]

I am sorry to hear of your wife’s passing & it is a good idea to get your paperwork in order.
Joint ownership here is not the same as UK when one share passes to the survivor more or less automatically, here each person owns half of the property so therefore it does not necessarily pass to the survivor. However there are special concessions for these situations.
I am sure somebody will have direct experience & will point you in the right direction, I agree £3500 sounds an excessive fee!
Good luck!

[TAC]

You said you both made wills were the wills registered at the court in kyrenia

[Twaddle]

The wills were made and lodged in Lefkosia although the property is in Karsiyaka.

[Deniz1]

Everything goes to probate here. A lady posting on here as Brend has gone through the experience maybe you can ask her.

[benjaminbutton]

Having just renewed and amended our wills here in the TRNC I was horrified to discover there is no set scale of fees for preparing probate. It does differ and some advocate base their fees not on the amount of work they do, but some take a percentage of what is left after probate is paid. Im sorry to learn of your loss, but would advise you take it carefully as to who you appoint and where possible if you have a turkish speaking friend so perhaps you can do a certain amount yourself. Unfortunately nothing is straight forward when comparing a will here and our will in UK.

[ozankoys]

When making a will do not appoint a lawyer as executor they can charge up to 30% of the estate for administering it.
When the time comes your executor can then engage the necessary expertise for a fixed fee.

[Brend]

We lodged our wills at Kyrenia Court. House was in joint names. I lost my husband 3 years ago and was advised to go to a noter. When i tried to pick up his will from the court even though I had the the number of the will that was lodged with the court they wouldn't let me have it and I was told that only a Lawyer could retrieve it. I can't remember the exact cost but it was nearly £3000.
Since then I have been told that if I had gone to the land registry office I could have done it there.
I would ask a turkish speaker to go with you and see land registry office first.

[Twaddle]

Thank you Brend.
I have spoken with a Turkish speaking friend and he knows of a notar who used to work at the land registry so will be speaking with him next week!

[Brend]

Wishing you luck and sorry for your loss.

[philco]

Naomhi Mehmet, I think have a fixed price for probate and it was a lot better than most other lawyers