Principles of Inheritance and Determination of Succession Acquisition

Inheritance law, contrary to appearances, is not among the simplest areas of law. The same applies to the process of succession. For someone inexperienced in solving legal puzzles—which I assume you might be—it may present significant challenges if they attempt to independently answer questions such as whether they are entitled to inherit, and if so, how to claim the inheritance. This post aims to help you understand the principles governing inheritance and enhance your orientation in the complexities of this rather challenging branch of law.

I encourage you to check out my other posts on inheritance law—“Division of the Estate“, “Disinheritance and Exclusion from Inheritance” and “Renunciation of Inheritance and Other Situations When a Potential Heir Does Not Inherit“. You will find a wealth of useful information there.

From this article, you will learn:

• What inheritance law is
• What an inheritance is
• What constitutes an inheritance
• What does not belong to an inheritance
• What the principles of inheritance are
• When an inheritance is acquired
• How inheritance occurs
• Who can and cannot be an heir
• The principles of testamentary inheritance
• The forms in which a will can be made
• What a holographic will is
• What an allographic will is
• What a notarial will is
• The principles of statutory inheritance
• The order of statutory inheritance
• What a determination of succession acquisition is
• The process of opening and announcing a will
• When the estate is opened for statutory heirs
• How the determination of succession acquisition occurs
• Who can apply for a court determination of succession acquisition
• What the court procedure for determining succession acquisition looks like
• How the determination of succession acquisition before a notary public works
• The fee for a court determination of succession acquisition
• The obligations toward the tax office after the determination of succession acquisition
• And the legal consequences of determining succession acquisition
• FAQ

Alright, let’s get to the heart of the matter. To start, let me explain…

What is Inheritance Law?

Inheritance law is a branch of civil law. It governs the transfer of property rights and obligations of a deceased person (testator) to entitled individuals (heirs) after their death. Specifically, it regulates:

• the principles of inheritance,
• the circle of persons entitled to inherit,,
• liability for inheritance debts,
• the procedure for taking possession of the inheritance.

In a broader sense, inheritance law encompasses:

• Substantive law, which defines the essence of its individual elements and institutions,
• Procedural law, associated with inheritance proceedings.

The first is generally governed by the provisions of the Civil Code, while the second by the norms of the Code of Civil Procedure.

So much for the inheritance law itself. You are probably also wondering…

What is an Inheritance?

Broadly speaking, an inheritance is the entirety of property rights and obligations of a deceased person that are transferable upon death. These constitute the so-called inheritance estate, which passes to the heirs, i.e. persons:

• designated in the will, or
• entitled under statutory inheritance principles.

The former are known as testamentary heirs, and the latter as statutory heirs.

What Constitutes an Inheritance?

An inheritance consists of the deceased’s:

• Assets, such as tangible property, real estate, cash, stocks, etc.
• Liabilities, i.e., financial obligations, which are considered inheritance debts. Examples include loans, credits, tax arrears, etc.

Additionally, inheritance debts specifically include:

• funeral expenses of the deceased, insofar as they align with customs accepted in a given community,
• costs of inheritance proceedings,
• obligations to satisfy claims for a reserved portion (legitim),
• duties to fulfill legacies and instructions in the will.

Therefore, the inheritance includes not only the property, rights, and obligations existing at the time of the testator’s death but also those that arise thereafter.

The inheritance estate also includes:

• personal rights of the deceased, such as copyright and patent rights,
• any claims arising from contractual relationships, employment relationships, unjust enrichment, and torts (delicts).

Finally, it is worth noting that the deceased’s assets, minus the sum of liabilities, form the so-called net value of the inheritance.

What Does Not Belong to an Inheritance?

By law, the following are excluded from the inheritance:

• rights and obligations strictly linked to the deceased’s person, and
• rights that pass to specified individuals upon the deceased’s death, regardless of whether they are heirs.

You might wonder what these terms mean.

Rights and obligations strictly linked to the person of the deceased include, in particular:

• personal rights such as the name, pseudonym, image, and dignity,
• usufruct established exclusively for the deceased,
• personal servitudes, e.g., a right of passage through a plot,
• the right of lifetime support,
• annuities,
• the right to a burial plot,
• obligations to complete a task linked to the deceased’s personal traits, e.g., creating a film or musical composition,
• a contract of mandate unless otherwise stipulated,
• claims arising from infringement of personal rights,
• claims for compensation for harm suffered unless such claims were acknowledged in writing or legal proceedings were initiated during the deceased’s lifetime.

On the other hand, rights that pass to specified individuals upon the testator’s death, regardless of whether they are heirs, arise from special regulations. These include:

• the right to lease a residential unit,
• entitlements under insurance contracts,
• bank dispositions in the event of death,
• the right to cooperative tenancy rights,
• the right to withdraw shares in a cooperative.

Principles of Inheritance in Polish Law

You should know that under Polish law, an inheritance is always subject to succession. This means that “unclaimed” inheritances do not exist. This stems from the fact that if the circle of individuals entitled to inherit based on a will or statutory rules is exhausted—whether they are closely or distantly related to the decedent—the inheritance estate passes to the municipality of the deceased’s last place of residence or ultimately to the State Treasury.

Importantly, Polish law treats inheritance holistically, and the inheritance itself is based on the principle of universal succession. This means that heirs acquire all rights and obligations that constitute the inheritance as a whole. If there are multiple heirs, each acquires a specified fractional share of the inheritance estate.

When Does Inheritance Occur?

Inheritance occurs at the moment of the estate’s opening. When does the estate open?

This happens at the moment of the testator’s death. Thus, the opening of the estate coincides with the moment of death. A testamentary heir is appointed to inherit at the time of the will’s opening and announcement.

The term “opening of the estate” is strictly technical. It means that upon its occurrence, the property rights and obligations belonging to the deceased become an inheritance, forming a separate estate governed by inheritance law.

Formally, the time of the estate’s opening is determined based on the death certificate of the deceased, which serves as proof of both the death and the date of its occurrence in court.

The opening of the estate is of great significance in inheritance law. At that moment:

• The circle of statutory heirs and individuals entitled to a reserved portion is determined,
• The composition of the inheritance estate is established,
• The inheritance is acquired by the heirs, resulting in the transfer of the deceased’s rights and obligations to them. Consequently, they become the owners of the inherited assets and are entitled to undertake any legal actions concerning them,
• The commencement of time limits provided in inheritance law for specific actions occurs.

These time limits, governed by legal norms, include:

• Declaring acceptance or rejection of the inheritance,
• The statute of limitations for claims regarding a reserved portion,
• Filing a motion to declare an heir unworthy of inheritance,
• Excluding a spouse from inheritance if the deceased had filed for divorce or separation due to the spouse’s exclusive fault, which was fully justified, but the deceased passed away before the court proceedings concluded,
• Challenging the validity of a will.

How Is an Inheritance Acquired?

Under Polish law, there are two paths to inheritance:

• Testamentary inheritance, and,
• Statutory inheritance.

The first applies when the testator has prepared a will—a document expressing their last wishes regarding the disposition of their estate after death and specifying the order and principles of inheritance. This is achieved by:

• Indicating heirs, and
• Allocating portions of the inheritance estate to them.

The testator has full freedom to designate the circle of inheriting persons, as long as it complies with the legal principles applicable in Poland.

Statutory inheritance occurs, especially when no will has been prepared. In such cases, the inheritance is governed by the provisions of the Civil Code, irrespective of the testator’s wishes.

For more on how an inheritance can be accepted, refer to my article: “Division of the Estate”.

Who Can and Cannot Be an Heir?

As a rule, heirs may include:

• Natural persons (individuals),
• Legal entities, such as commercial capital companies (limited liability, joint-stock companies, etc.),
• jOrganizational units, e.g., partnerships (general partnerships, limited partnerships, etc.).

Interestingly, this group also includes:

• Children conceived at the time of the estate’s opening, provided they are born alive, and
• Foundations or family foundations established in the will by the testator if they are registered within two years of the will’s announcement.

It is important to note that a person cannot be an heir if:

• They are deceased at the time of the estate’s opening,
• A legal entity does not exist at that time.

Moreover, the following do not inherit:

• Persons who are unwilling or unable to be heirs,
• Persons who have been disinherited,
• Persons excluded from inheritance,
• Persons deemed unworthy of inheritance,
• Persons named in an invalid will,
• Persons who entered into a contract with the testator to renounce inheritance.

I discuss the circumstances leading to these exclusions in my articles, „Renunciation of Inheritance and Other Situations When a Potential Heir Does Not Inherit” and “Disinheritance and Exclusion from Inheritance”.

You should also know that an inheritance may be accepted, at the heir’s choice:

• Without limitation, meaning fully and without restrictions regarding inheritance debts, or
• With the benefit of inventory, which limits the heir’s liability for debts to the value of the inherited estate.

What Are the Principles of Testamentary Inheritance?

The Civil Code outlines several basic principles of testamentary inheritance:

• A will may only contain dispositions from one testator,
• The testator may revoke the entire will or individual provisions at any time,
• Only a person with full legal capacity may prepare or revoke a will,
• A will cannot be prepared or revoked by a representative, such as a proxy; these actions must be carried out personally by the testator,
• The will must not be invalid—reasons for invalidity are discussed in my article, “Renunciation of Inheritance and Other Situations When a Potential Heir Does Not Inherit”.

The testator may appoint one or several individuals to inherit the entire estate or portions thereof. If shares are not specified for multiple heirs, inheritance occurs in equal parts.

In What Forms Can a Will Be Made?

Polish law provides for various forms of wills, but here, I will limit the discussion to the most common ones.

Wills are generally divided into ordinary and special forms. Among ordinary wills, the following are distinguished:

• Holographic wills,
• Allographic wills,
• Notarial wills.

Special wills include:

• Oral wills,
• Traveler’s wills,
• Military wills.

These are created only in exceptional circumstances and are rarely used, so I will not delve into them here.

Due to their common usage, we will focus on ordinary wills:

Holographic Will

Despite its technical name, a holographic will is simply a handwritten will, the most commonly made type. For it to be valid, the following are required:

• It must be entirely handwritten by the testator,
• It must bear the current date, and
• It must be signed by the testator.

It is not permissible for the will to be written by a third party or created using a computer. Failure to include a date generally invalidates the document unless there are no doubts regarding:

• The testator’s capacity to create it,
• The content of the will, or
• The mutual relationship between multiple wills.

Allographic Will

In the case of this type of will, also referred to as an official or administrative will, the testator’s declaration is made:

• orally,
• in the presence of two witnesses, and
• before an appropriate official, such as the village mayor (wójt), town mayor (burmistrz) or city president, as well as the district governor (starosta), provincial marshal, county or municipality secretary, or the head of the civil registry office.

This type of will requires that the testator’s last will be recorded in a protocol, indicating the date on which it was drawn up. The protocol must be signed by:

• the testator,
• the person before whom the declaration was made, and
• the witnesses.

If the testator is unable to fulfil this first requirement, it must:

• be expressly noted in the protocol, and
• the reason for such a situation must be stated.

The testator’s declaration in this form must be read aloud to the testator in the presence of the witnesses. It should be emphasized that such a will cannot be made by a deaf or mute person.

Notarial Will

Polish law also allows a will to be made in the presence of a notary public, in the form of a notarial deed. As a result, it has the status of an official document, benefiting from the presumption that its content is consistent with the actual will of the testator.

You should know that Poland has a Notarial Register of Wills, the purpose of which is to reduce the risk that a will is not found or is disclosed late. An entry of a will into the Notarial Register of Wills is made by a notary only at the request of the testator. Also, only through a notary, upon presentation of the testator’s death certificate, can information be obtained about wills made before a notary and registered in this Register, or confirmation that no will has been entered for a particular testator.

Compliance with the legally required forms of wills is very important – in the event of irregularities, the will is invalid. This means that it produces no legal effects.

You should also know that not only the making of a will, but also its revocation must follow the appropriate rules. This may be done by:

• making a new will by the testator, or
• destroying the will or depriving it of the features on which its validity depends – however, this must be done with the intention of revoking the will,
• making amendments to the will that clearly indicate the intention to revoke its provisions.

If the testator makes a new will without expressly stating that the previous one is revoked, only those provisions of the earlier document that cannot be reconciled with the content of the new will are annulled.

It is also worth adding that Polish law adopts the principle that a will should be interpreted so as to ensure the fullest possible implementation of the testator’s intent. If different interpretations are possible, the one that allows the dispositions of the testator to remain effective and gives them a reasonable meaning should be adopted.

Rules of Statutory (Intestate) Succession

You should know that statutory succession may apply to:

• the entire estate, or
• part of the estate.

The first situation occurs when:

• the testator has not appointed an heir, or
• none of the persons appointed wishes to be an heir or is able to inherit.

Statutory succession regarding part of the estate occurs when:

• the testator has not appointed an heir to that part in a will, or
• any of several persons appointed to the entire estate does not wish to or cannot inherit.

What is the order of statutory succession?

As mentioned, the order of statutory succession is determined by the provisions of the Civil Code. It is based on marriage, kinship and adoption. Heirs are divided into several groups depending on the closeness of their family ties to the deceased. The first group includes primarily descendants and the spouse. Public-law entities are placed in the final group.
The fundamental principle of statutory succession is that a person belonging to a more distant group is entitled to inherit only if the person entitled before them is absent, unwilling or unable to inherit.

More specifically:

• first, the heirs are the testator’s children (i.e., descendants) and the surviving spouse. As a rule, they inherit in equal shares, but the spouse’s share may not be less than one-quarter of the entire estate,
• if there is no spouse, only the children inherit. If a child predeceases the testator, their share passes to their descendants, i.e., the testator’s grandchildren, and so on,
• if the testator leaves no descendants, the heirs are the spouse and the parents,
• in the absence of descendants (children and grandchildren) and a spouse, the entire estate passes to the parents. If, at the opening of the succession, only one parent is alive, that parent inherits half of the estate together with the testator’s siblings,
• if one of the parents predeceases the testator, that parent’s share passes to the testator’s siblings, whether full or half-blood. If any of the siblings predeceases the testator, their share passes to their descendants. If there are no siblings or their descendants, the entire estate is inherited by the surviving parent.

Only when none of the above persons may be heirs does the estate pass to statutory heirs belonging to the so-called third group.

At this point an important reservation must be made – there has been a significant amendment to the provisions concerning this matter, specifically Article 934 of the Civil Code. It entered into force on 15 November 2023, pursuant to the Act of 28 July 2023 amending the Civil Code and certain other acts (Journal of Laws, item 1615).
The amendment narrows the group of heirs in the third category to grandparents, their children and grandchildren. This means that the group currently includes:

• grandparents,
• children of grandparents, i.e., aunts and uncles of the testator, and
• their children, i.e., cousins of the testator.

It should be added that before this amendment, this group included the grandparents of the testator and all of their descendants – children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and further descendants.

Currently, after the amendment, within this group related to the testator’s grandparents, the rules are as follows:

• if there are no descendants, spouse, parents, siblings or descendants of siblings, the entire estate passes to the testator’s grandparents, who inherit in equal shares,
• if any of the grandparents predeceases the testator, their share passes to their children in equal shares,
• if a child of any of the grandparents predeceases the testator, the share due to that child passes to that person’s children in equal shares,
• if the deceased grandparent has neither children nor grandchildren, their share passes to the remaining grandparents in equal shares.

What is the further order of succession? As a rule:

• if there are no grandparents of the deceased and none of their children, the next in line to inherit are the deceased’s stepchildren. These may be either the natural children of the deceased’s spouse or children adopted by that spouse. However, a stepchild acquires the right to inherit only if neither of their parents is alive at the time the inheritance is opened. The right of inheritance does not extend to the descendants of the stepchild,
• finally, if the deceased has no relatives at all, the heir is the municipality of the deceased’s last place of residence. If the deceased did not live in Poland, or if their last place of residence cannot be determined, the estate passes to the State Treasury.

Phew… Complicated, isn’t it? – it is easy to get lost! However, I hope I have helped at least a little to clarify some of your doubts in this area… Now that we have made it through the theory, it is time to move on to practice! First, we will look at how you can take possession of the inheritance that is due to you and…

What is a declaration of acquisition of inheritance?

A declaration of acquisition of inheritance is a confirmation that you have become an heir. Its purpose is to formally determine who belongs to the group of persons entitled to inherit the estate. From a legal perspective, it means confirming the property status of the heir that has arisen as a result of inheritance.

It should be emphasized that the path leading to a declaration of acquisition of inheritance differs for testamentary heirs and statutory heirs. Testamentary heirs acquire their rights through the opening and announcement of the will. Statutory heirs acquire this right automatically upon the opening of the inheritance.

What does the opening and announcement of a will involve?

The opening and announcement of a will take place after the death of the testator. Their purpose is to:

• confirm the fact that a will has been made,
• determine its validity,
• ensure that the testator’s last will is carried out in a manner most consistent with their intentions.

They also allow the heirs to become acquainted with the contents of the deceased’s last will and enable them to raise any objections regarding the validity of the document.

You should know that these activities are regulated by the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure and may be carried out:

• by a court, or
• by a notary public.

The choice between these two options depends on the will of the entitled person – this may be an heir or any third party, usually the executor of the will, whose duty is to ensure that the provisions of the will are properly fulfilled.

According to the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, the person in possession of the will is obliged to submit it to the court competent for the last place of residence of the testator, immediately after learning of the testator’s death, unless it has already been submitted to a notary.

The court or notary opens and announces the submitted will if they are in possession of proof of the testator’s death, which in practice means a death certificate.

Importantly, persons concerned are not notified of the date of the opening and announcement of the will, although they may be present during these activities.

If several wills made by the same testator have been submitted, all of them are opened and announced, and each is annotated with information about the others.

A protocol is drawn up documenting the opening and announcement of the will. It includes:

• a description of its external condition,
• the date it was made and the date it was submitted,
• the indication of the person who performed the act.

In addition, the date of opening and announcement is marked directly on the will.

The inheritance court or notary will, as far as possible, notify the following persons of the opening and announcement of the will:

• persons affected by the testamentary dispositions,
• the executor of the will,
• the temporary representative, and
• the curator of the estate.

The notary must promptly notify the inheritance court of having carried out these acts, sending a copy of the prepared protocol, unless a certificate of inheritance has already been registered in the inheritance register.

It is also worth mentioning that the will and the protocol of opening and announcement are kept at the inheritance court, unless they were deposited with a notary.

When does the inheritance open for statutory heirs?

As already mentioned, statutory heirs are called to inherit at the moment of the opening of the inheritance, meaning at the time of the testator’s death. This happens by operation of law and no other actions are required to produce this effect.

After the inheritance is opened, or after the will is opened and announced, it is time for the heirs to obtain a declaration of acquisition of inheritance. Usually, both of these actions take place in a single proceeding. This leads to the next question…

How is a declaration of acquisition of inheritance issued?

You should know that a declaration of acquisition of inheritance may be obtained in two ways:

• in court proceedings – on the basis of a court order declaring acquisition of inheritance, or
• in proceedings before a notary – through a notarial deed of certification of inheritance.

Both procedures cover confirmation of inheritance based on a will as well as based on statutory succession. As in the case of opening and announcing a will, the choice between these options depends entirely on the will of the entitled person.

Who may apply to the court for a declaration of acquisition of inheritance?

The scope of persons entitled to submit such an application is indicated in the provisions of the Civil Code. According to these provisions, the court issues a declaration of acquisition of inheritance at the request of a person who has a legal interest in it.

As the Supreme Court has stated, “interest” should be understood as a situation in which the outcome of the proceedings will affect the rights of the person concerned, which occurs when they have an interest in causing any of the legal effects associated with the declaration of acquisition of inheritance. This may be any interest, either personal or financial.

Those entitled to submit such an application include, in particular:

• persons entitled to a share of the estate, i.e., heirs, legatees and persons inheriting after them,
• entities and persons who remain in legal relationships with the testator or heir, such as creditors,
• persons interested in proving that they are not heirs or that they have disposed of the inherited estate.

It is very important that the applicant demonstrates their legal interest in initiating proceedings to obtain a declaration of acquisition of inheritance. If the application is submitted by a person not entitled to do so, it will be rejected by the court and will have no legal effect.

The application may be submitted at any time. It is a procedural right and, as such, is not subject to limitation.

However, you must remember that there is a limitation “in the opposite direction.” A declaration of acquisition of inheritance or certification of inheritance cannot be issued before the expiry of six months from the opening of the inheritance.

The only exception is when all known heirs have already submitted declarations of acceptance or rejection of the inheritance. Therefore, as a rule, a declaration of acquisition of inheritance may only be issued after six months from the opening of the inheritance. Issuing it earlier is not permissible.

What does court proceedings for a declaration of acquisition of inheritance look like?

The procedure for a court declaration of acquisition of inheritance is regulated by the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure. It is carried out by issuing a decision in non-contentious proceedings, and the court procedure is the same for both testamentary and statutory inheritance.

The competent authority in such cases is the so-called inheritance court, that is, the district court having jurisdiction over the testator’s last habitual residence. If this cannot be determined, jurisdiction lies with the court of the place where the estate or part of it is located. If none of these bases can be determined, jurisdiction lies with the District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw.

The inheritance court issues a decision declaring acquisition of inheritance after conducting a hearing, to which it summons the applicant and the persons who may be considered statutory or testamentary heirs. They are mandatory participants in the proceedings. Among statutory heirs, the court summons:

• the spouse,
• descendants,
• persons in an adoptive relationship,
• parents, and
• siblings.

Other statutory heirs are summoned if the court is aware of them.

The inheritance court ex officio examines who the heirs are. In particular, it checks whether the testator left a will and summons the person who is likely to have it to submit it. If the will is submitted, the court opens and announces it.

As evidence that there are no other heirs, the court may accept a declaration made by an appearing heir. This declaration concerns everything known to them about:

• the existence or non-existence of persons who would exclude known heirs from inheritance or inherit together with them,
• the testator’s wills.

With respect to criminal liability, such a declaration is equivalent to testimony given under oath, of which the judge must inform the declarant.

If the declaration has not been made, or it or other evidence is considered insufficient by the court, in particular if it has not been possible to determine the closest statutory heirs, the decision declaring acquisition of inheritance may only be issued after summoning heirs by publishing an appropriate announcement. This announcement is published in the Court and Commercial Gazette (Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy) and publicly announced in the testator’s last habitual residence, in the manner customary in that place.

After three months from the date of the announcement, the court schedules a hearing to examine any submitted claims, summoning also those persons who have made a claim and provided their address.

If within this period no one claims inheritance or those who do fail to prove their rights at the hearing, the court issues a decision declaring acquisition of inheritance only by those heirs whose rights have been established.

It should be noted that the court may declare acquisition of inheritance by heirs even if they are persons other than those indicated by the participants in the proceedings.

You should know that the decision declaring acquisition of inheritance covers the entire estate inherited after a given testator with respect to all heirs.

The decision declaring acquisition of inheritance should include:

• the testator’s first and last name, parents’ names, PESEL number (if assigned), date and place of death or discovery of the body, and last habitual residence,
• all heirs who inherit the estate – their first name(s), last name, parents’ names, and date and place of birth (for natural persons), and for legal persons – their name and registered office,
• the title of inheritance and the size of shares in the estate, and in the case of testamentary inheritance – the form of the will and reference to the protocol of opening and announcement of the will,
• the manner in which the inheritance was accepted,
• heirs inheriting an agricultural holding subject to statutory inheritance and their shares in it,
• acquisition of the object of a vindicatory legacy, naming the person in whose favor it was made and specifying the object.

The latter may also be done by issuing a partial decision.

A final and binding decision declaring acquisition of inheritance is promptly entered by the court, via the IT system, into the Inheritance Register.

How is inheritance confirmed before a notary?

As mentioned earlier, the confirmation of inheritance before a notary takes place through the issuance of a notarial deed of certification of inheritance.

The procedure for notarial inheritance certification is regulated by the Act of 14 February 1991 – Law on Notaries (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2022, item 1799 as amended). Under this Act, a notary may prepare a deed certifying statutory or testamentary inheritance.

It is not permitted to prepare a deed of certification of inheritance:

• on the basis of special wills, i.e., oral wills, wills made during travel, or military wills,
• if, during the preparation of the inheritance protocol, circumstances arise indicating that not all persons who may be statutory or testamentary heirs or beneficiaries of a vindicatory legacy are present, or that there are wills that have not been opened or announced,
• if at the time of death the testator was a foreigner or, having no citizenship, did not reside in the Republic of Poland, or if the estate includes property rights or possession of real estate located abroad,
• if a deed of certification of inheritance or a court decision declaring the acquisition of inheritance has already been issued with respect to the same estate.

Only persons who may potentially be statutory or testamentary heirs, as well as persons in whose favor the testator made vindicatory legacies, are entitled to participate in proceedings before the notary. Rejection of inheritance or a vindicatory legacy, as well as being declared unworthy of inheritance, results in the loss of that status.

The initial step is for the notary to prepare an inheritance protocol. At the request of an interested person, the notary may first prepare its draft with their participation.

If a will is submitted, the notary opens and announces it, unless this has already been done earlier. A protocol of these actions is prepared.

After drawing up the inheritance protocol, the notary prepares a deed of certification of inheritance, provided there is no doubt as to:

• the existence of Polish jurisdiction in the case,
• the content of applicable foreign law,
• the identity of the heir,
• the size of shares in the estate, and,
• in the case of a vindicatory legacy, the identity of the beneficiary and the subject of the legacy.

The notary promptly registers the deed of certification of inheritance via the electronic system in the register of inheritance certificates maintained by the National Council of Notaries. A note is added to the deed indicating:

• the entry number,
• the day, month, year, hour and minute of registration.

Registration of the deed will not occur if a deed of certification of inheritance or a final court decision declaring acquisition of inheritance regarding the same estate has already been entered in the Inheritance Register.

It must be emphasized that a registered deed of certification of inheritance has the legal effect of a final court decision declaring acquisition of inheritance.

The original notarial deeds are stored in the notarial office for ten years. After that period, they are transferred to the district court competent for the office’s location.

It should be noted that original deeds of certification of inheritance cannot be removed from their storage place. Copies may be issued to state authorities and to persons who demonstrate a legal interest in obtaining them.

If a request for a copy is refused, the interested person may file a complaint. The deadline for filing it is seven days:

• from the date of delivery of the written justification of the refusal, or
• if no justification was requested – from the date on which the person learned of the refusal.

The complaint should be filed with the competent regional court, via the notary who issued the refusal.

The notary must respond to the complaint within one week, presenting their position to the court and to the complainant, unless a written justification has already been provided.

The court examines the complaint at a hearing, applying accordingly the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure on non-contentious proceedings.

The notary may also, if they consider the complaint to be obviously justified, issue a copy of the deed of certification of inheritance to the party – in such case the complaint is no longer processed further.

Finally, it should be mentioned that a registered deed of certification of inheritance may be annulled by the inheritance court if a court decision declaring acquisition of inheritance has been issued regarding the same estate.

If two or more deeds of certification of inheritance have been registered concerning the same estate, the inheritance court, at the request of an interested party, annuls all such deeds and issues an appropriate decision declaring acquisition of inheritance.

Fee for declaration of acquisition of inheritance

A court application for declaration of acquisition of inheritance is subject to a court fee of PLN 100. An additional PLN 5 must be paid for entry in the Inheritance Register.

The cost of preparing an inheritance protocol is PLN 100 net (PLN 123 gross), while the deed of certification of inheritance costs PLN 50 net (PLN 61.50 gross).

Notification to the tax office

After inheritance acquisition is confirmed, you must remember to fulfill your obligations to the tax authorities. The deadline for notifying the tax office of the acquisition of inheritance is six months from the date on which the court decision confirming inheritance becomes final. In the case of a notarial deed of certification of inheritance, the period runs from the date of registration of the deed.

What are the legal effects of a declaration of acquisition of inheritance?

A declaration of acquisition of inheritance produces numerous important legal effects.

These include:

• a legal presumption that the person indicated in the notarial deed of certification of inheritance or court ruling is an heir,
• exclusive proof enabling the heir to assert their inheritance rights against a third party who does not claim inheritance rights. According to the Supreme Court, this does not apply when a third party pursues claims against the heir,
• legal protection of a third party: if someone who obtained certification or a court declaration of inheritance, but is not actually an heir, disposes of an estate right to a third party, that third party acquires the right or is released from the obligation, unless acting in bad faith,
• the heir’s right to demand that a person who holds the estate as an heir, but is not in fact an heir, return the estate – including individual items belonging to it.

For clarification:

• a legal presumption is a legal rule requiring a fact to be accepted as true without the need for proof. It significantly strengthens the legal and procedural position of the entitled person, because anyone challenging it must present clear counter-evidence,
• a person acts in bad faith if, when invoking a right or legal relationship, they know or should know that it does not exist, and any mistaken belief in its existence is not justified.

You must understand that a declaration of acquisition of inheritance does not end probate proceedings. To fully take over the inheritance, you must still carry out its division – but that is discussed in another article entitled “Division of the Estate”

Finally, I would like to add that the purpose of this guide on inheritance law was to help you understand its basic principles and the structure of probate proceedings, so that you can better understand the rules governing them and, if necessary, handle some matters independently. However, you should seriously consider seeking assistance from a qualified lawyer – an advocate or legal advisor – especially in more complex cases. Only such a professional, with appropriate experience and knowledge, can safely guide you through the complexities of inheritance law, saving you time, stress and, most importantly, unnecessary costs.