Drafting deeds of acknowledgement of inheritance

Confirmation of inheritance deed

Since march 2009, heirs can choose between carrying out the procedure of inheritance acquisition confirmation in court or in a notary office. A deed of succession certification drafted by a notary has an identical function as the inheritance acquisition confirmation drafted by court – it is a proof that a specified person is an heir. A notary cannot draft a deed of succession certification solely in the following cases:

• inheritance has been opened before 1 July 1984 (opening takes place the moment the bequeather dies);
• succession on the basis of privileged wills (oral, made on a Polish ship or plane, military will);
• when the notary has doubts regarding the inheritor and the share in the estate, in case the bequether has made a specific bequest regarding the person for whom the bequeather has made the specific bequest and the subject of the bequest, or there is a dispute in the matter.
• the petition to confirm inheritance acquisition is filed by a person who is not an inheritor, and has an interest in the matter;
• in relation to the inheritance where there had already been a succession certification drafted, or the decision on establishing acquisition of inheritance had already been issued;
• when within the course of the succession protocol, there arise circumstances which indicate that during the drafting process not all the persons who may be counted as inheritors (legal or testamentary), or persons, to which specific bequests were made were present, or there exist, or have existed, wills which have not been opened or announced;
• due to the lack of spouse of the bequeather and relatives eligible to inherit, legally the inheritance escheats to the commune (gmina), or Treasury.
• the bequeather at the moment of death was a foreigner or, having no citizenship, was not living in the Republic of Poland, or the inheritance includes property rights or ownership abroad.

Procedure description

There is no regionisation in succession certification – the whole of the procedure may be carried out at a notary of choice after the applicable documents have been presented, i.e.:

• copy of death certificate of the bequeater;
• copies of vital records of the persons eligible for legal inheritance;
• the bequeather’s will, if it was drafted;
• PESEL ID number of the bequeather from the anulled ID card or entered into the death certificate by an employee at the Registry office, or resulting from the certificate issued by the Commune (Gmina) Office of the last place of residence of the bequeather.

Inheritance procedure at a notary consists of the following stages:

1. opening and announcement of the will, if it was drafted;
2. drafting an succession protocol with the participation of all the persons who may be counted as inheritors (legal or testamentary); if no more than 6 months passed from the day the inheritance was opened, inheritors must additionally give statements regarding acceptance or rejection of the inheritance;
3. drafting a deed of succession certification;.
4. registration of the certification deed in the electronic register kept by the National Notarial Council;
5. issuing a statement by the inheritors about real estate involved in the inheritance, real estate rights of perpetual usufruct and titles to a cooperative premises or residential buildings for which the land and mortgage registers are kept.

The succession protocol includes statements of all the persons who presented themselves to the notary as the eligible inheritors (legal and testamentary), given under pain of criminal liability. If the bequeather left a will, the notary opens it and announces. In case of succession certification which takes place after six months from the bequeather’s death, the inheritors give statements about accepting or rejecting the inheritance.

On the basis of the succession protocol, a notary drafts a deed of succession certification. It defines the circle of heirs and their share in the inheritance estate. It is lawfully binding only after it has been registered in the Polish electronic register of successsion certification (RAPD). The register is meant to make it impossible to certify the succession after the same bequeather, e.g. in another notary office. If there have already been different data regarding a bequeather with the same PESEL ID number, recording the succession certification is impossible. The excerpt of the succession certificate will serve the inheritors to establish their right to the inheritance (e.g. when selling the inherited real estate).

Payments related to succession certification

When deciding to establish succession rights on the basis of succession certification, you must consider the following costs:

• drafting the succession protocol – 100 zł +23% VAT
• drafting the deed of succession certification – 50 zł. +23% VAT
• drafting the protocol of opening and announcement of the will – 50 zł. +23% VAT
• drafting the statement about accepting the inheritance – 50 zł. +23% VAT
• drafting the statement about rejecting the inheritance – 50 zł. +23% VAT,
• issuing a statement about real estate involved in the inheritance, real estate rights of perpetual usufruct and titles to cooperative premises or residential buildings for which the land and mortgage registers are kept – 200 zł. + 23% VAT,
• cost of excerpts – 6 zł. + 23% VAT for every document page.