In the absence of a will, who inherits and how much?

Where there is no will, the following principles apply to the various scenarios, such as:

• If the deceased was unmarried and without children; the estate passes to the parents. If one of the parents has died before the opening of the succession, the share of the inheritance due to that parent passes to the brothers and sisters of the testator in equal shares. If one of the brothers or sisters of the deceased died before the opening of the succession, leaving descendants, his/her share of the inheritance passes to his/her descendants. The division of this share is determined in accordance with the principles applying to sharing between the testator’s distant descendants. If there are neither brothers nor sisters or descendants of the brothers and sisters of the testator, the whole estate passes to the testator’s grandparents; they inherit in equal shares. If one of the grandparents has died before the opening of the succession, his/her share of the inheritance passes to his/her descendants. If there are no descendants of the grandparent who died before the opening of the succession, the share of the inheritance passes to the other grandparents in equal shares. In the absence of any of these relatives entitled to participate in the inheritance, the estate passes to the municipality of the testator’s last place of residence. If it is not possible to determine the testator’s last place of residence in Poland or if the testator’s last place of residence was abroad, the estate passes to the State Treasury.
• If the deceased was unmarried and leaves children, only the testator’s children inherit.
• If the deceased leaves a spouse, he/she becomes the sole heir, if there are no descendants, father, mother, brothers or sisters of the deceased.

• If the deceased leaves a spouse and children, the surviving spouse will be only a joint heir alongside the children. The amount of his/her share of the inheritance also depends on the matrimonial property regime, that is to say on the system governing the assets of the spouses. If the deceased leaves a spouse with whom he/she lived under the legal regime of the community of acquisitions, the surviving spouse receives half of the communal estate pursuant to the matrimonial property regime. The other half of the communal estate is added to the estate possessions of the deceased person. Half of the estate possessions passes to the spouse, if the deceased had only one child. If he/she had several children, the spouse receives a quarter of the estate, while the rest is shared equally between the children. The portion of a child already deceased reverts to that child’s descendants per stirpes (representation).

Do partners of a registered or unregistered partnership inherit?
Polish law does not recognise this type of partnership. Polish law does not grant automatic succession rights to the surviving partner. The latter can only become an heir if this is stipulated in a will.

Are there specific rules for estates comprising agricultural land?
Very specific rules exist for estates comprising agricultural land.

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