Starting November 1, 2025, Greece enters a new digital era for the management of wills. The Ministry of Justice has launched diathikes.gr, a platform that allows the electronic publication of handwritten, secret, and public wills, reducing the processing time from 400 days to just 3–7 days.
This initiative aims to unburden the courts while providing citizens, judges, and notaries with speed, transparency, and security in the process.
diathikes.gr: What Changes
The platform will be managed by the Association of Notaries of the Courts of Appeals of Athens – Piraeus – Aegean and Dodecanese, under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice.
Minister of Justice Giorgos Floridis highlighted:“The time required for publishing wills is reduced from 400 days to 3–7 days, while courts will be relieved from 60,000–70,000 cases annually.”
Pending wills will be addressed by legislation in November, ensuring that the new system operates uniformly.
Liberating Judicial Resources
The platform will:
- Free up 100 judges who currently work in wills departments.
- Gradually reassign 39 court clerks to other high-demand areas.
Deputy Minister of Justice Ioannis Bougas explained:
“At the Athens Court of First Instance, it currently takes 330 days from the submission of a will to its publication, and 450 days in Piraeus. Daily, 600–700 applications are submitted in Athens alone.”
The platform reduces bureaucratic workload and speeds up justice.
Benefits for Citizens and Notaries
With the activation of the General Wills Registry:
- Citizens can immediately verify nationwide whether a will exists.
- The platform ensures secure access under GDPR compliance.
- Certificates of existence or non-existence of a will are issued the same day.
- Will publication can occur the same day the application is submitted, provided a death certificate is presented.
- Handwritten wills can be certified and their certificates issued within a maximum of five working days.
- Heirs can immediately access inherited property.
- The number of questionable or fraudulent wills is minimized.
- Courts are significantly relieved of case backlogs.
- The new registry connects to the European Wills Registry (ARERT), enabling verification of wills across EU member states.
The digital publication of wills marks a major upgrade for the Greek justice system, reducing delays and bureaucracy while ensuring speed, security, and transparency.
With diathikes.gr, Greece enters a new legal and digital era, allowing citizens to handle wills quickly, easily, and safely.
Source: pagenews.gr