Greece seeing rise in inheritance disclaimers

Inheritances are generally seen as a good thing to receive. However, there are some things that could majorly impact how much a person would actually want a given inheritance. One is if the property given has major costs associated with it, like inheritance tax costs or maintenance costs. Another is if the person doesn’t view the property as being very helpful to them. When a beneficiary views a given inheritance as being a bigger burden than a help, one thing they might do is disclaim it.

Data from Greece indicates that such disclaimers are becoming more and more common when it comes to inheritances in Greece. According to these statistics:

• In 2013, 29,200 inheritance disclaimers were made in the country.
• In 2014, such disclaimers jumped up significantly, totaling out at 41,386.
• In 2015, the trend of increasing disclaimers continued, with the total for that year coming out to 45,627 disclaimers.

One wonders if the disclaimer total will be up again in 2016.

Among the inheritances a Greek American may be leaving their loved ones are assets in Greece. One of the big goals a person generally has when it comes to the inheritances they leave is that these inheritances will benefit and help the people they leave them to. So, a person may very much want to prevent situations from arising in relation to the inheritances they leave that would make their beneficiaries feel like the inheritance would be such a burden that it would be best to disclaim it.

Given this, the costs and benefits a given inheritance would have are among the things a person may want to give very careful thought to when it comes to their estate planning. Lawyers skilled in U.S.-Greece estate planning can advise Greek Americans with assets in Greece on what things can impact what benefits and costs an asset would have for a beneficiary and how likely the different estate planning strategies out there would be to accomplish the goals they have.

Source: Tornos News, “Inheritance disclaimers sharply up during 2013-2015 in Greece,” Oct. 13, 2016