Family Law / Citizenship & other Civil Status Matters / Inheritance Law / Property Law
Greek Tax Law / U.S Tax Law Compliance / Pension Law / Legal Translations
Family Law: Our general family law practice covers a variety of matters such as marriage, divorce, either be it uncontested or not, separation of spouses’ joint property, alimony, child care and child support, preparation of several types of agreements among spouses or future spοuses, as well as matters which entail an international element, such as the recognition by the Greek or the U.S Courts of the res judicata of international divorce judgments.
Citizenship & other Civil Status Matters: We handle the registration with the Greek Vital Statistics office of events that occurred outside of Greece, such as marriages, divorces, births, deaths etc.; We also handle citizenship matters: We frequently take on matters for individuals born/residing in Greece or abroad who wish and are eligible to become Greek and/or U.S citizens, have their Greek and/or U.S passport issued, as well as issue social security numbers, VAT numbers etc. in Greece or the USA.
Inheritance Law: We will help you with your estate planning and the preparation of your will. We will also assist you with the probate of a decedent’s will and transfer title of all of the estate’s assets to the heirs, devisees and legatees as a result of a probated will, or in the event of intestate succession (inheritance in the absence of a will). We will occassionally deal with fradulent holographic wills and litigate them in Court. We have developed an expertise in dealing with domestic and foreign wills and matters related with them, such as process involving their translation and submission to the Courts for acknowledgement/authentication.
Property Law: We handle real estate transactions, such as the sale or lease of real property in Greece. We shall perform legal title search for the property you are interested to buy and will make sure to put in place all paperwork required for the execution of a sales or gift deed. We advise on tax matters related to such transactions. For a number of clients residing abroad, we have been authorized to manage their real or personal property in Greece (such as management of bank accounts) on a continuous basis.
Greek Tax Law: As a lot of our clients are residents of the USA or other countries, we are frequently hired to deal with their tax issues in Greece. We often deal with matters where clients wish to change their tax status, because they move to a foreign country etc. In coordination with certified accountants, we handle the filing of their annual tax returns, and make sure income taxes are timely paid. We also assist with payment of their property taxes and ascertain that their real estate has been properly reported and paid for.
U.S Tax Law Compliance: It may come as a surprise, but U.S citizens are subject to U.S tax even if they do not live in the United States, have no income or property there, earn all of their income in Greece or elsewhere outside the United States and file and pay tax in the country of their residence. The U.S is unique in this regard. What this means for all Americans living in Greece (other than certain low income individuals) is that they have U.S tax obligations every year, although they may not have any tax liability after all. To the contrary, they may be eligible for several tax credits or refunds, as the case may be. They also have to file something called a "Foreign Bank Account Report” (FBAR) every year in addition to filing a tax return. New laws enacted in the United States a couple of years ago now require local Greek banks and banks in other countries to report accounts held by US citizens to the U.S Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In order to avoid high penalties potentially imposed on a U.S person for non-compliance, U.S. persons need to report these financial accounts the soonest practicable.
Even though Greece and the U.S have a treaty for the avoidance of double taxation, the treaty does not eliminate the obligation of U.S citizens, including dual Greek-U.S citizens, to file U.S tax returns and FBARs. As Greece is a country that taxes its residents at high rates, so many Greek resident U.S taxpayers are able to offset their U.S tax liability by claiming tax credits for the Greek tax they pay. In some cases, U.S citizens residing in Greece can claim refundable tax credits, if they are eligible.
In her capacity as a U.S lawyer, Louisa Maria Eleftheriades, provides support to Greek residents with their U.S tax and FBAR filing obligations. Ms.Eleftheriades cooperates with a law firm of tax experts in Washington, DC, to assist Greek residents to correctly submit their tax returns and FBARs.
Ms.Eleftheriades is one of the few, if not the only Greek-based, U.S qualified lawyer who works directly with experts in the United States to handle U.S tax compliance. Thus, she is part of a team of professionals who continuously follow U.S tax developments directly in the United States.
Ms.Eleftheriades and her U.S colleagues are familiar with the requirements of the Streamlined Filing Offshore Procedures (SFOP) that allow those who have not filed U.S tax returns or FBARs even for a number of years to become compliant without paying fines and penalties. The IRS has indicated that these procedures will be available for now, but will be discontinued at some point in the future. If you are not compliant withy our U.S tax and FBAR filings, you should act now to avoid difficulties with the IRS. Ms. Eleftheriades will be happy to help.
Pension Law: As a courtesy to our clients, we occasionally deal with pension matters, where we liaise with the Greek Social Security Funds and authorities to have our clients’ pension reinstated, or help eliminate contributions unduly paid or unduly requested and so forth.
Legal Translations: We have focused on certified translations’ work for over 15 years. Because of the nature of our work being international and the majority of our clientele being english-speaking, we have gained extensive experience on translating from Greek to English and from English to Greek, documents such as legal complaints, judgments, wills and other legal documents, including authenticating translations and certifications by Apostille of documents to be submitted before official authorities such as Courts of law, or other public authorities across the world.
