AGPLAW Successfully Defends Daughter’s Property Ownership in Limassol Court
AGPLAW Litigation Partner Maria Constantinou successfully defended our client’s right to keep her property, purchased for nearly €1.5 million plus VAT. The Limassol District Court rejected a claim demanding that she transfer ownership to the claimant.
The case concerned a father who paid for a property purchased in his daughter’s name. He later claimed that she held it on trust for him and filled legal action asking the Court to recognize a trust arrangement and order her to transfer the property to him. His daughter, represented by AGPLAW, maintained that the property had been a gift from her parents. The Court accepted our position and dismissed his claim.
The judgment, delivered following full court trial, addresses an important distinction in property and trust disputes: funding the acquisition of a property does not, by itself, establish that its registered owner holds it on trust for the person providing the funds.
The central legal issue was whether a trust existed or whether the property had been intended as a gift. The Court rejected the alleged trust, accepting our defence position that the intention was to benefit the registered owner.
An important part of the Court’s decision was that, when a father buys property in his child’s name, the starting assumption is that he intended it as a gift. The father did not prove otherwise. The Court also found that, even without that assumption, the evidence did not show that the daughter had agreed to hold the property on her father’s behalf.
The decision illustrates the importance of proving the legal basis of an alleged beneficial interest. The provision of funds, family involvement and authority to deal with a property must be assessed in their proper context; they do not automatically establish a trust relationship.
For our client, the successful defence protected ownership of a substantial asset against a claim seeking its compulsory transfer. The claim was dismissed with costs in the defendant’s favour.
The outcome highlights AGPLAW’s experience in contested trust arrangements, property ownership and private wealth disputes, and Maria Constantinou’s successful handling of a case and full court trial, in which intention and the legal character of a family transaction were decisive.
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