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Litigation · Civil & Private Disputes

Civil Litigation.

Personal and private disputes before the Greek civil courts — defamation, property disputes, fraud and misrepresentation claims, and inheritance disputes between heirs, including contested wills.

What We Handle Discuss Your Dispute
Civil litigation across every Greek court level
More than 20 years handling personal and private disputes from first instance through the Areios Pagos, the Greek supreme civil court.
Discretion in personal and private disputes
Defamation, family inheritance conflicts and other private matters are handled with the confidentiality they require.
In a personal dispute that needs resolving?
Confidential initial consultation to assess your position and the realistic options available to you.
Request Consultation
What We Handle Overview Process Why Us FAQ Related

Scope of Service

What we handle
in civil litigation.

We represent individuals in personal and private disputes before the Greek civil courts, from the initial assessment of a claim through enforcement of a final judgment. A civil litigation lawyer in Athens confirms jurisdiction and competence before drafting, since an error there restarts the process.

Defamation & Reputation Claims
Claims for injury to reputation and honour, whether spoken, written or published online, and defence against defamation claims brought against you.
Property & Boundary Disputes
Boundary disputes, disagreements between co-owners, easements and rights of way, and other private disputes over real property.
Fraud & Misrepresentation Claims
Claims arising from private dealings where you were misled or deceived — pursuing recovery and, where appropriate, coordinating with parallel criminal exposure.
Contested Wills & Inheritance Disputes
Disputes between heirs over the validity of a will, the division of an estate, or an heir's exclusion — the litigated side of inheritance matters.
Co-Ownership & Partition Disputes
Disputes between co-owners of shared property, including applications to partition or force the sale of jointly owned assets.
Personal Contract Disputes
Disputes arising from private agreements between individuals — loans between family or friends, private sales, and similar personal arrangements.

Overview

Personal disputes,
not business ones.

Civil litigation covers the disputes that arise between individuals rather than between businesses — a fundamentally different territory from commercial litigation, both in what is at stake and in how a case is best approached. A defamation claim turns on the balance between protecting someone's reputation and another person's right to free expression, a balance the Greek courts weigh carefully and fact-specifically. Property disputes between private individuals — over a boundary line, a shared driveway, a disagreement between co-owners, or an easement no one wrote down clearly — often turn as much on the practical history of the property as on the title deed itself. Fraud and misrepresentation claims in personal dealings, such as being misled into a bad private transaction, require proving not just that a loss occurred but that the other party intended to deceive. Much of what a civil litigation lawyer in Athens does is procedural discipline: the deadlines, the service, the evidence bundle.

Contested inheritance sits in its own category. Where heirs disagree — about the validity of a will, about the size or division of an estate, about whether an heir has been unfairly excluded — the matter becomes litigation, not planning. That is a distinct exercise from the non-contentious succession planning and probate work handled on our Private Client team's Inheritance page: drafting a will, structuring an estate, or guiding an uncontested probate. Where a single family situation touches both — a will is being prepared while a related dispute is already brewing, or a probate turns contentious partway through — our litigation and private client teams coordinate directly, so the matter is handled as one coherent strategy rather than two disconnected instructions. Bring the documents and we will tell you where the claim belongs.

"A personal dispute is not a smaller version of a commercial one. It calls for the same rigor, applied with more discretion and a closer eye on what the client actually needs to move on with their life."

Across all of these — defamation, property, fraud and misrepresentation, contested inheritance — our approach is the same: assess the position honestly and early, pursue a workable resolution wherever one is realistic, and litigate through the full Greek court hierarchy, from first instance to the Areios Pagos, when a private dispute genuinely requires it.

Reputation
Defamation balances reputation against free expression
Greek courts weigh the harm to reputation against the right to free expression on the specific facts — there is no automatic outcome either way.
Property
Property disputes need more than a survey
Boundary and co-ownership disputes usually turn on the practical history of the property as much as on the paperwork.
Fraud
Fraud claims require proving intent, not just loss
A bad deal alone is not fraud — a viable claim requires evidence that the other party intended to mislead you.
Inheritance
Contested inheritance is litigation, not planning
Once heirs disagree, the matter moves from succession planning into a litigated dispute — a different exercise entirely.

How We Work

From first assessment
to enforced judgment.

STEP 01
Case Assessment & Evidence Gathering
We review the facts, gather and assess the available evidence, and give a candid view of the strength of your position before any formal step is taken.
STEP 02
Pre-Litigation Resolution Attempt
Where realistic, we pursue a negotiated resolution before litigation — often the faster and less costly route in a personal dispute.
STEP 03
Court Proceedings
Where resolution is not realistic, full conduct of litigation through the Greek civil courts at whichever instance the matter requires.
STEP 04
Enforcement of Judgment
Once judgment is obtained, we act to enforce it in practice, not just on paper — the step where a favourable outcome becomes an actual remedy.

Why Us

Personal disputes,
handled with judgment.

Experience
20+ Years Across Every Greek Court Level
More than two decades handling civil disputes from first instance through the Areios Pagos, the Greek supreme civil court.
Discretion
Discretion in Sensitive Personal Disputes
Defamation and family inheritance conflicts touch people's private lives — we handle them with the confidentiality they require.
Languages
Multilingual Capability for Cross-Border Disputes
Full-service representation in English, Greek and Italian where a personal dispute involves parties or heirs based abroad.
Approach
Direct, Practical Approach
We pursue resolution, not prolonged conflict — litigating firmly where required and settling on workable terms wherever that genuinely serves the client.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about civil litigation.

What's the difference between a defamation claim and simply disagreeing with what someone said about me?+

Not every hurtful or unwelcome statement is defamatory. A defamation claim requires a false statement of fact, communicated to a third party, that damages your reputation — an opinion, however unflattering, is generally treated differently under Greek law than an assertion of fact. Greek courts also weigh the statement against the other party's right to free expression, particularly where the statement touches a matter of public interest. We assess whether what was said crosses that line before advising you to pursue a claim, and equally, whether a claim brought against you is genuinely defamatory or protected expression.

My neighbor and I disagree about a property boundary — what are my options before going to court?+

Litigation is rarely the first step. We typically begin by reviewing the title deeds, any survey or cadastral record, and the practical history of how the boundary has been treated by both sides over time, since that history often matters as much as the paperwork. From there, a formal negotiation or a structured mediation between neighbors frequently resolves the disagreement without a court ever becoming involved. Where that is not possible, we are equally prepared to bring or defend a boundary action through the Greek civil courts.

Someone misled me into a bad deal — do I have a fraud or misrepresentation claim?+

Not automatically — a deal turning out badly is not, by itself, evidence of fraud. A viable claim generally requires showing that the other party made a false representation they knew or should have known was false, that you reasonably relied on it, and that the reliance caused you a loss. That is a higher bar than simply having made a poor decision, and it is why the evidence gathered at the outset — communications, documents, the sequence of events — matters so much. Where the same conduct may also amount to a criminal offence, we coordinate the civil claim with any parallel criminal exposure the other party may face.

A family member is contesting my late parent's will — what happens now?+

Once a will or the division of an estate is genuinely disputed between heirs, the matter shifts from an administrative or planning question into litigation. We assess the grounds being raised — commonly the validity of the will itself, questions about the deceased's capacity when it was made, or a claim that an heir has been unfairly excluded from their entitled share — and advise on the realistic strength of the position, whether you are the heir contesting or the heir defending the will. Where possible, we pursue a negotiated resolution between the family members involved before matters escalate further, but we are equally prepared to litigate the dispute through the Greek courts where that is what the situation requires.

How is this different from the Inheritance service on your Private Client page?+

The Private Client team's Inheritance service covers non-contentious succession planning — drafting a will, structuring how an estate will pass, and guiding an uncontested probate where the heirs are in agreement. This Civil Litigation service covers the same subject matter once it becomes contested — a will is challenged, heirs disagree about the estate, or someone believes they have been unfairly excluded. Where a single family situation involves both strands, for instance a will being drafted while a related family dispute is already emerging, our litigation and private client teams coordinate directly so the matter is handled as one coherent strategy.

In a personal dispute that needs resolving?
Let's talk about your options.

Confidential initial consultation to assess your position and the realistic options available to you.

Get in Touch +30 210 36 33 694