According to articles 173 and 200 of the Civil Code, the interpretation of the will seeks the will of the testator and to achieve this, incidents or elements outside the will can be taken into account (private or public documents, evidence, witnesses). According to jurisprudence, an important element for the interpretation of the will is how the persons of the close family or friends who know the will of the testator perceive its content, and above all his heirs. (pp10,18,36, 16, 37,43).
In fact, the heir is entitled to bring a simple declaratory action regarding his hereditary right to an inherited property, if he has a legal interest in doing so, i.e. if his hereditary right to the specific property is disputed (Article 70 of the Civil Code). The action simply requesting the recognition of the hereditary right to an inherited property, when contested by a third party, is an ordinary recognition action and it is sufficient for the plaintiff to plead and prove the death of the heir, the plaintiff’s right of inheritance based either on intestate succession due to his kinship with the inheritor, or in a will, Besides, article 70 of the Civil Code stipulates that anyone who has a legal interest in having the existence or non-existence of a legal relationship recognized, can bring a relevant action. From this provision of substantive law, it follows that the existence or non-existence of a legal relationship, which is uncertain, can be recognized following a lawsuit, as long as there is a legal interest in doing so.
A legal relationship is considered the biotic relationship of one person to another person or thing, which is regulated by substantive law and its legal consequences consist in the affirmation or denial of the validity of a right or obligation or a complex of rights and obligations. The legal interest, which can be material or moral, depends on the circumstances and its starting point, when the uncertainty does not arise from the things, is the questioning by the defendant of the contested legal relationship from which damage must be threatened to prevent of which the intended decision is an appropriate instrument (AP 1550/2009, AP 155/2002). The existence of a legal interest of the plaintiff for the exercise of the declaratory action is a special condition of admissibility (AP 155/2002, AP 1391/1991 TNP Law), and for this reason the existence of a legal interest is examined ex officio by the Court and must exist during the discussion of the lawsuit (AP 155/2002, AP 886/2001, EfAth 6379/2003, PPrAth 3069/2007, PPrRod 87/2005 TNP Law). Also, the owner of the thing, in case of questioning his ownership, is entitled, having a legitimate interest in this regard, to request, in accordance with the provision of article 70 of the Civil Code, to be recognized either that he is the owner of the thing.
LAW, 1036/2022 PPKerk, 335/2021 AP, 4/2021 PPSamou,, 491/2009 AP, 1290/2002 AP, 2490/2005 EFATHINA, 46/2010 PPATH, 2506/2013 EFATHINA, 25/20 10 PPAthinon, 197/ 2010 of Athens, 5887/2009 of Athens, 56/2018 of Athens, 2393/1991 of Athens, 1442/2010 AP, 1914/2014 AP.
From the provisions of articles 173 and 1781 of the Civil Code, when interpreting the will only the true will of the testator is sought, without attachment to the words and the criteria of article 200 of the Civil Code do not apply. In other words, the aim is to find the testator’s subjective point of view, without investigating the objective sense in which third parties would perceive his will, in good faith. An appeal to the interpretation of the will is only allowed if the court of substance finds, even indirectly, a gap or ambiguity in the content of the will, in which case incidents outside the will are also taken into account. Among the latest cases are also the importance of the objects that have been confiscated by the will, in relation to the entire inheritance as well as the personal relations of the testator with the honored ones (see AP 960/2012, AP 133/2012, AP 143/2011 , AP 1142/2011, AP 1182/2010, AP 721/2010, AP 482/2010, AP 392/2010, AP 1999/2009, AP 1777/2009, AP 1723/2009, AP 768/2008, AP 791/ 2001 , AP 15/1982, AP 808/1982 NoB 31. 674, AP 1014/1980 NoB 29. 335, AP 207/1979 NoB 27. 1260, AP 677/1967 NoB 16. 263, EfATH 7259/2006 Greece 50.240-241 , EfATH 3285/2000, EfATH 638/1995, EfATH 519/1992 HellDni 35. 478, EfATH 11232/1991 HellDni 35. 481, EfATH 4919/1986 HellDni 28. 652, EfATH 3252/ 1981 HellDni 22. 434 and Balis, § § 80,96 and 99).
Because the will needs interpretation when it is not completely clear or completely unclear and (therefore invalid), but shows unclear and doubtful points, amenable to clarification by interpretation (AP 506/1992 HellDni 34.1470, AP 164/1988 ΕΕΝ 56.120). Ground for interpretation with the aim of searching for a will different and beyond that expressed by the words used by the testator, is not provided, when the latter are absolutely clear and convey, without anything else, what the testator wanted (AP 6136/1990 HellDni 32.1650, AP 164/1988 EEN 56.120, AP 1965/1987 NoB 36.1653). The purpose of the interpretation of the will is to remove this (partial) ambiguity and to establish the legally significant content of the testator’s statement of will, while its object is precisely the statement of the testator’s will. During the interpretative approach, the true will of the testator is sought and the general interpretative rules of Articles 173 and 1781 of the Civil Code are applied, without applying the criteria of Article 200 of the Civil Code (AP 1561/2005 Law No. 2006.402). During the interpretation of wills, the true will of the testator is sought, without focusing on the words, with the objective of his subjective point of view only and regardless of the objective meaning in which the statement is perceived by third parties in transactional good faith (see AP 613/1990 HellDni 32.1650, AP 164/1988 EEN 56.120 AP 1965/1987 NoB 36.1653).
Relatively, the time when the will was drawn up (it is the critical time for verifying the real will of the testator), the social environment of the testator, his personal (local language or professional) habits, his intellectual and social development, must be taken into account. any legal or other education of the etc. while even the search for his supposed will is forgiven. With the above condition, it is allowed when searching for the true will of the testator to refer to all accessible facts or elements that are outside the will, e.g. documents, conversations or other manifestations of the testator, his relations with certain persons, etc., without having to be mentioned, even suggestively, in the text of the will (see PPrThes 8173/2007 public LAW).