# Inheritance, gifts and a will for a home in Crete: what happens to the house when you are not here

> A Cretan house passes under Greek rules unless you say otherwise in a will, and the 2026 reform of Greek succession law changes what those rules are. The EU regulation that lets a foreigner choose their own law, the inheritance-tax bands and the €150,000 and €800,000 thresholds, the acceptance deed your heirs will need, and why a gift in your lifetime is often the cheaper route.

- Canonical URL: https://honestcrete.com/buying/inheritance-gifts-and-wills-crete-home/
- Author: Fotis (Honest Crete, Heraklion)
- Section: Buying property in Crete · Stage: Owning
- Rules verified: August 2026 · Updated: 2026-08-22 · Published: 2026-08-22
- How to cite: "Honest Crete — Inheritance, gifts and a will for a home in Crete: what happens to the house when you are not here (rules verified August 2026), https://honestcrete.com/buying/inheritance-gifts-and-wills-crete-home/"
- Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property and nobody here is an estate agent. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed, registered estate agent, not to us. No article names a developer or a specific property. Adverts on these pages are labelled as adverts and buy no say in the text.
- Sources:
  - Terra Property (June 2026) — accepting an inherited property in 2026: law 5303/2026 (Gazette A 81/22.5.2026) applies to deaths from 16 September 2026; forced share becomes a money claim; inheritance contracts permitted; tax bands (category A: €150,000 exempt, then 1%, 5%, 10%; €400,000 for spouse and minor children); 9-month and 12-month filing deadlines; acceptance deed and Cadastre registration: https://terraproperty.gr/insights/apodochi-klironomias-akinitou
  - Workenter (May 2026) — the new succession law from 2026 and the property market: owners' federation calling for inherited property to be taxed like parental gifts (€800,000 exemption) rather than at the €150,000 inheritance threshold: https://workenter.gr/klironomies-i-nea-diataxi-pou-allazei-tis-metavivaseis-akiniton-apo-to-2026-936639
  - Stylianos Sbokos, lawyer — the €800,000 tax-free threshold for parental gifts and donations in category A under law 4972/2022 and circular E.2077/2022: https://www.ssbokos.gr/klironomia-foroi-forologia-aforologita-oria-klironomoi/
  - Honest Crete — undivided shares: what Greek inheritance without a partition does to a house over three generations: https://honestcrete.com/buying/undivided-shares-co-ownership-crete/

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A house in Crete outlives the person who bought it, and what happens next is decided by rules that most foreign buyers have never read in a language they cannot. Greek succession law is old, detailed and — in 2026 — being rewritten from the ground up; the tax on inheriting is real and has thresholds that reward planning; and the European regulation that lets you choose your own law is the most useful thing most readers will learn from this section. This is the article about the end of the story, written so that the story does not end in the village with the fig tree and the fourteen cousins.

I am not a lawyer. The law is the Greek Civil Code as rewritten by law 5303/2026, the tax code as it stands, and the EU regulation, all as verified in August 2026. Every decision on this page is one you make with a lawyer in two countries, and the fee for that afternoon is the best money in this section.

**Succession in one minute.** Default: the law of where you lived at death governs your whole estate, Crete house included; a foreigner can choose the law of their nationality in a will. Greek law, from 16 September 2026, reserves a money claim for children and spouse rather than a share of each property, permits inheritance contracts, and stops debts passing automatically. Inheritance tax for spouse and children: €150,000 tax-free each, then 1%, 5%, 10%, on official value; €400,000 for a surviving spouse and minors. A gift in your lifetime to a child or spouse has an €800,000 threshold. Heirs must file within nine or twelve months, accept by notarial deed and register; skip it and the house becomes undivided shares.

## Which law, and the sentence that chooses it

The EU succession regulation — in force since 2015, and applying to property in Greece regardless of where the deceased was a citizen — says that one law governs a person's whole estate: the law of the country where they habitually lived when they died. A retired couple who moved to Crete die under Greek law, for everything they own everywhere; a family who kept a holiday home here and lived in Hamburg die under German law, Cretan house included. That default surprises people in both directions.

The regulation also lets anyone choose, in a will, the law of their nationality instead. A British, American, Swiss or Dutch owner who writes "I choose the law of my nationality to govern my succession" takes the Greek forced-heirship rules out of the picture and brings in the freedom their own law gives. It is one sentence, it must be in a valid will, and it is the first thing to ask a lawyer about, because it decides whether the rest of this article applies to you.

## Greek succession law, rewritten for deaths from 16 September 2026

Law 5303/2026 replaced the whole book of the Civil Code on inheritance — the first full rewrite in eighty years — and applies to the estates of people who die from 16 September 2026. The headlines for a homeowner:

The forced share — the portion Greek law guarantees to children and spouse whatever a will says — becomes a claim to money against the estate rather than an automatic share of each property. Under the old law it produced co-ownership of the house among people the will had tried to exclude; under the new one, a house can pass whole to the person named, and the others are owed a sum.

Inheritance contracts, forbidden for a century, become legal: a notarised, binding agreement in your lifetime with your heirs about who gets what, which cannot be revoked by one side alone. For a family with one Cretan house and several children, it is the instrument that stops the undivided-shares problem before it starts. A contract by which a future heir renounces in advance, usually in return for a gift now, comes with it.

Heirs are no longer automatically liable personally for the deceased's debts; the estate and the heir's own property are separated by default. The surviving spouse's share alongside one child rises from a quarter to a third, with a year's free use of the family home; and a partner of at least three years without marriage or a civil union enters the order of succession, at the back, behind every relative — which is to say that a will is still the only real protection for an unmarried partner.

For deaths before that date the old rules apply, and so do the old traps.

## The tax

The tax on inheriting is separate from the law of who inherits and did not change with the 2026 reform. It is charged on the official "objective" value of the property — the same value the [transfer tax](https://honestcrete.com/buying/what-buying-in-crete-really-costs/) uses — and by category of relationship. For a spouse, children, grandchildren and parents, each heir's first €150,000 is exempt, the next €150,000 taxed at 1%, the next €300,000 at 5%, and the rest at 10%; a surviving spouse after five years of marriage and minor children have a €400,000 exemption. Siblings, nieces, nephews, in-laws: €30,000 exempt, rates rising to 20%. Everyone else — including, as the tax code stood in 2026, the unmarried partner the new law recognises — €6,000 exempt and the highest rates. A child inheriting a house of €350,000 official value owes about €4,000; two children inheriting it between them owe nothing.

The return is due within nine months of death, or twelve if the death or the heir was abroad, through the tax authority's property platform, usually filed by the notary who draws up the acceptance; the tax is payable in instalments. First-home reliefs exist under conditions.

## The gift in your lifetime

A parental gift, or a donation to a spouse, child or grandchild, is taxed under a different and far kinder threshold: €800,000 per recipient before tax begins, a rule introduced in 2022. Against €150,000 on inheritance, that is why Greeks transfer houses to their children while alive, keeping a right of lifetime use, and why the owners' federation was arguing in 2026 that inherited property should be taxed the same way. The gift is a notarised deed with the same engineer's certificate, topographic plan and registration as a sale, and it takes the house out of any future succession dispute. It is not free — the engineer, the notary and the registry are paid, and your home country may have its own view of a gift — and it is irreversible. A lawyer in both countries, then decide.

## What your heirs will actually have to do

Whoever inherits a Cretan house has to do something, and the failure to do it is how the island ended up with the [houses that have fourteen owners](https://honestcrete.com/buying/undivided-shares-co-ownership-crete/). The steps: a Greek tax number for each heir; the inheritance-tax return within the deadline; a notarised deed of acceptance of the inheritance; registration of that deed at the Cadastre; the property declaration updated; and then, only then, the house can be sold or formally let. Heirs abroad do it through a lawyer under a power of attorney, with translations and apostilles of the death certificate and the will. It is months of paperwork at a bad time, which is the strongest argument for a will that names one lawyer and one plan.

## The will

A Greek notarial will is the cleanest instrument for Greek property: made before a notary, in Greek with an interpreter if needed, registered, and found. A home-country will that expressly covers the Cretan house and chooses the law of your nationality also works under the regulation, with a translation and certification for the Greek notary at the end. What does not work is two wills that contradict each other, or none — in which case the default law of your habitual residence decides, and in Crete, for a resident, that is the new Greek law with its forced shares in money and its order of succession.

## The honest downside

Succession is the one part of owning here that you will not be present for, and the one most people leave to chance. Greek law changed in 2026 and its courts will spend years interpreting the change. The tax thresholds are per heir and on official values that rise; a house that was a cheap village ruin is an inheritance at today's zone price. The gift route is irreversible. The regulation's choice of law is powerful and rarely used, because nobody told the buyer it existed. And every step your heirs must take is a step in a foreign country, in a foreign language, in the months after they lost you. An afternoon with two lawyers now is the kindest thing in this whole section.

*Disclosure:* Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed estate agent, not to us; the full statement is below. Nothing in this article names a developer, a property or a professional, and it never will.

**The verdict.** **Worth it if** you make a will that chooses your law, names the house and one lawyer, and you decide with advice whether a gift now beats an inheritance later. **Skip it if** the plan is "the children will sort it out" — they will, in Greek, in a Cadastre office, years from now, and the house will be waiting with the fig tree.

## Quick answers

**Which country's law governs my Crete house when I die?**

By default, under the EU succession regulation, the law of the country where you habitually lived at death — so Greek law if you had moved here, and your home country's law if the house was a holiday home and you lived elsewhere. A foreigner can instead choose the law of their nationality in a will, and that choice is usually the single most useful sentence in the document.

**What changed in Greek inheritance law in 2026?**

Law 5303/2026 rewrote the whole of Greek succession law for deaths from 16 September 2026: the forced share for children and spouse becomes a claim to money rather than a share of each property; inheritance contracts made in your lifetime become legal for the first time; heirs no longer automatically take on the deceased's debts personally; the spouse's share with one child rises to a third; and a long-term unmarried partner gains a place in the order of succession, at the back.

**How much is inheritance tax on a house in Greece?**

For a spouse, child, grandchild or parent, the first €150,000 of what each of them inherits is tax-free, the next €150,000 is taxed at 1%, the next €300,000 at 5% and anything above at 10%; a surviving spouse and minor children have a €400,000 exemption. Brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews have a €30,000 exemption and rates up to 20%; anyone else €6,000 and the highest rates. The tax is on the official 'objective' value, not the market price.

**Is it cheaper to give the house to my children while I am alive?**

Often. A parental gift or donation to a spouse, child or grandchild carries an €800,000 tax-free threshold per recipient, against €150,000 on inheritance, and it takes the house out of any future succession argument. It is a notarised deed with the same engineer's certificate and registration as a sale, the giver usually keeps a right to live there for life, and it should be done with a lawyer who has read your home country's rules as well.

**What will my heirs have to do?**

File a Greek inheritance-tax return within nine months of the death, or twelve if the death or the heirs were abroad; accept the inheritance by a notarised deed and register it at the Cadastre; update the property declaration; and only then can they sell or formally let. Heirs abroad can do it all through a lawyer with a power of attorney. The step is skipped constantly, and the result is the house with fourteen owners.

**Do I need a Greek will?**

You need a will that deals with the Greek house and is valid where you make it; a Greek notarial will is the cleanest for Greek property and a home-country will that expressly covers it and chooses your national law also works. Two wills that contradict each other is the one arrangement to avoid. A lawyer in each country, one afternoon, solves it.