July 2026 – Action for the recovery of funds from a joint bank account upheld with final effect

By virtue of decision No. 2956/2026 of the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Athens, our client’s action was upheld with final effect, the subject matter being the recovery of the amount corresponding to his share of a joint bank account, following the unilateral withdrawal of the entire deposited balance by another co-beneficiary.

The case concerned a joint bank account held by the parents together with their two children — among them our client — at “Alpha Bank Cyprus Ltd” (Alpha Bank Cyprus). Following the father’s death, the opposing party proceeded to withdraw and transfer the entire balance to her personal account, exceeding the internal share attributable to her. The Court held that the account in dispute is governed by the provisions of Law 5638/1932 on joint accounts, under which, upon the death of one of the co-beneficiaries, the deposit passes automatically, by operation of law, to the surviving co-beneficiaries, without the heirs of the deceased entering into the relevant contractual relationship vis-à-vis the bank. It was further accepted that, under the terms of the contract governing the account in question, each co-beneficiary had the right to use the account independently, without the participation of the others — a right, however, which concerns exclusively the external relationship with the bank and does not extend to the internal relationship among the co-beneficiaries.

The opposing party argued that the internal relationship was gratuitous, or alternatively constituted a donation mortis causa, and raised a corresponding plea of lack of a right of recourse, which was rejected by the Court, as it was not established by any item of evidence that such an agreement existed among the co-beneficiaries.

Accordingly, and in application of the presumption laid down in Article 493 of the Greek Civil Code, the Court held that, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, the co-beneficiaries participate in equal shares in the internal relationship of the joint account, and ordered the opposing party to pay our client one third of the total amount of the deposit, namely the sum of EUR 82,000, together with statutory interest from the service of the action until full payment.

Of particular legal interest is the Court’s ruling on the foreign element of the case, given that the joint account was held with a banking institution in Cyprus. Applying Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (Rome I), the Court held that, in the absence of any choice of applicable law by the parties, the contract is most closely connected with Greece and that Greek law therefore applies, taking into account in particular that both litigants were Greek citizens. This decision confirms the distinction between the co-beneficiaries’ external relationship with the bank and their internal relationship among themselves, as well as the importance of proving a specific agreement where claims of a gratuitous cause or of exclusive ownership over the sums in a joint account are asserted.