What are the national rules in case of intestate succession (no will has been set up)?

According to the Polish Civil Code the inheritance entitlement results from the statute or from a will. Statutory succession comes into being if the decedent had not appointed an heir or if none of the people appointed by him to inherit wants to or can become an heir. The entities entitled to inherit are divided into 5 classes:

1.    The descendants and spouse of the decedent inherit first.

a.    The children and spouse of the decedent shall be entitled to inherit first. They shall inherit in equal parts, but the share of the spouse shall not be smaller than a quarter of the entire estate.

b.    If a child of the decedent predeceased the opening of the inheritance, while leaving descendants, the share in the estate which would fall to him/her shall fall to his/her descendants in equal parts.

2.    If the decedent has no descendants - the spouse, parents, and sometimes siblings and siblings’ descendants inherit.

a.    If a decedent left a spouse and a parent or parents, spouse shall be appointed to inherit half of the entire estate and each parent shall be appointed to inherit a quarter of the entire estate.

(i)     If paternity of the father has not been established, the share in the estate of the mother of the decedent who inherits in concurrence with the decedent’s spouse shall amount to half of the estate.

(ii)    if only one of the decedent’s parents predeceased the opening of the inheritance, the share in the estate which would fall to him/her shall fall to the siblings of the decedent in equal parts; if any of the decedent’s siblings predeceased the opening of the inheritance while leaving descendants, the share in the estate which would fall to him/her, shall fall to his/her descendants. The division of this share shall be made pursuant to the principles governing the division among further descendants of the decedent (1b).

(iii)    if only one of the decedent’s parents predeceased the opening of the inheritance and there are no decedent’s siblings or siblings’ descendants the decedent’s living parent shall inherit a half of the estate.

b.    In case the decedent has no spouse:

(iv)    if the decedent left both parents, the entire estate shall fall to the parents in equal parts.

(v)    if only one of the decedent’s parents predeceased the opening of the inheritance, the share in the estate which would fall to him/her shall fall to the siblings of the decedent in equal parts; if any of the decedent’s siblings predeceased the opening of the inheritance while leaving descendants, the share in the estate which would fall to him/her, shall fall to his/her descendants. The division of this share shall be made pursuant to the principles governing the division among further descendants of the decedent (1b).

(vi)    if only one of the decedent’s parents predeceased the opening of the inheritance and there are no decedent’s siblings or siblings’ descendants, the decedent’s living parent shall inherit the whole estate.

c.    If the decedent left a spouse and there is no parents, siblings and siblings’ descendants, the spouse shall inherit the whole estate.

3.    Grandparents and sometimes grandparents’ descendants.

a.    In the absence of heirs from classes 1-2, the entire estate shall fall to the grandparents of the decedent; they shall inherit in equal parts

b.    If any of the grandparents of the decedent predeceased the opening of the inheritance, the share in the estate, which would fall to him/her, shall fall to his descendants. The division of this share shall be made pursuant to the rules governing the division of the estate among the descendants of the decedent (1b).

c.    In the absence of the descendants of the grandparent who predeceased the opening of the inheritance, the share in the estate, which would fall to him/her, shall fall to the remaining grandparents in equal parts

4.    Children of the decedent’s spouse.
In the absence of heirs from classes 1-3, the estate shall fall in equal parts to these children of the decedent’s spouse whose both parents predeceased the opening of the inheritance.

5.    Municipality, State Treasury.

a.    In the absence of heirs from classes 1-4, the estate shall fall to the municipality of the last domicile of the decedent, as the statutory heir.

b.    If it is not possible to determine the last domicile of the decedent in the Republic of Poland or the last domicile of the decedent has been abroad, the estate shall fall to the State Treasury, as a statutory heir.

Special rule for spouses:

The spouse who inherits by the statute in concurrence with other heirs, except for the descendants of the decedent who lived with him/her at the time of his death, may demand, beyond his share in the estate, the objects belonging to the household equipment, which he used together with the decedent or exclusively by himself/herself when the decedent was alive.

There are some special rules for the adopted and adopting parties. In general the rules concerning the children of the decedent shall apply accordingly to the adopted party, but there are a few exceptions to it.

What are your national forced heirship rules, if any existing?

Under Polish law the decedent may dispose of the whole property in case of his/her death. However, the descendants, spouse and parents of the decedent who would be entitled to inheritance by the statute, are entitled to the part of the estate (reserved portion):

• Two thirds of the value of a share in the estate which would fall to him/her at the statutory succession - if the entitled person is person is permanently unable to work or if entitled descendant is a minor;
• Half the value of a share in the estate which would fall to him/her at the statutory succession - in other cases.

If the entitled person did not receive the reserved portion he/she is entitled to, either in the form of a donation made by the decedent, or in the form of inheritance appointment, or in a form of a legacy, he/she shall have a claim against an heir for payment of a pecuniary sum needed to cover the reserved portion or to supplement it. However, the entitled person does not have a right to demand the specific things which belong to the inheritance.

What are the national formal requirements when setting up a will (holographic will, will confirmed by witnesses, will confirmed by a notary public)?

A will may be drawn up and revoked by a person having full capacity for juridical acts  - that is person who: a) reached eighteen years of age or a woman who reached sixteen years old of age and is married and b) is not incapacitated partially or completely. In case of deaf, mute or other disabled people some special rules may apply.

There are two types of wills:

6.    Ordinary wills (they may be drawn up in each situation):

a.    Holographic will – it has to be drawn up in handwritten form, by the decedent (the contents of the will cannot be typed, printed or written by other person), signed by him/her and with a date put on it

b.    Notarial will – it has to be drawn up in the form of a notarial deed before a notary public

c.    Allographic will – it has to be drawn up orally before the head of municipality (mayor, or president of a town), district chief executive, president of province, secretary of a district or municipality or a register, in the presence of two witnesses. The declaration of the decedent shall be made in the form of minutes with the date of drawing them up provided.

7.    Extraordinary wills (they may be drawn up only in the specified situations and they shall expire after the lapse of six months from the cessation of the circumstances justifying the noncompliance with the form of an ordinary will, unless the decedent died before the lapse of this time limit):

a.    Oral will – it may be drawn up if there is a risk of an imminent death of the decedent, or if due to extraordinary circumstances it is not possible or very difficult to comply with the ordinary form of a will. The decedent has to declare his last will orally in the presence of at least three witnesses.

b.    “Travel” will – it may be drawn up during travel on a Polish seagoing vessel or aircraft before the commander or the deputy commander of the vessel or aircraft. The  decedent has to declare his intent to the commander or his deputy in the presence of two witnesses.

c.    Military will – it may be drawn up by soldiers and people associated with the Armed Forces in case of mobilization, war and captivity.
In case of wills specified in points 1c, 2a and 2b the following people may not be witnesses at the drawing up of a will:

-    a person who does not have full capacity for juridical acts;
-    a person who is blind, deaf or mute;
-    a person who is unable to read or write;
-    a person who cannot speak the language used by the decedent to draw up his will;
-    a person convicted of false testimony by a final court sentence;

a person (or his/her spouse, relatives up to the second degree of kinship or affinity, persons remaining with him/her in relation of adoption) envisaged in a testament as a beneficiary

Is inheritance and/or gift tax in place or abolished?

Yes, it is, but the closest family (so-called Group “0” which include the spouse, the descendants, ascendants, stepchildren, siblings, step-father and step-mother) is exempted from the tax if they notify the acquisition of the property or property rights to the competent tax office within 6 months from the date of a court decision declaring the inheritance acquisition or of registering the deed of succession certification by a notary public coming into force.

If inheritance tax and/or gift tax is in place please specify the percentages of tax respectively the calculation of tax!

According to the Act on the Inheritance and Gift Tax, the tax is calculated according to the following scale:

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This information was compiled by Kuzcek-Maruta - Counsellors at Law.