Statutory inheritance in Poland

Art. 931 [First group of statutory heirs].
§ 1 The children of the deceased and their spouse are the first to be called up to the inheritance by law; they inherit in equal parts. However, the spouse's share may not be less than a quarter of the total inheritance.
§ 2 If a child of the deceased did not live to see the opening of the inheritance, the share of the inheritance that would have fallen to them falls to their children in equal parts. This provision applies accordingly to further descendants.
Art. 932 [Inheritance in the absence of the testator's descendants].
§ In the absence of the testator's descendants the testator's spouse and parents are called to the succession by law.
§ 2. The share of the inheritance of each parent who inherits jointly with the deceased's spouse shall be one-fourth of the total inheritance. If the fatherhood of a parent has not been established, the share of the inheritance of the testator's mother, who inherits jointly with the testator's spouse, amounts to half of the inheritance.
§ (3) In the absence of the testator's descendants and spouse, the entire inheritance falls to his/her parents in equal shares.
§ If one of the testator's parents did not live to see the opening of the inheritance, the share of the inheritance that would have gone to them falls to the testator's siblings in equal parts.
§ If any of the testator's siblings did not live to see the opening of the inheritance, leaving behind their descendants, the share of the inheritance that would have gone to them falls to their descendants. This share shall be distributed according to the rules applicable to the distribution among the further descendants of the testator.
§ If one of the parents has not lived to see the opening of the inheritance and there are no siblings of the testator or their descendants, the share of the inheritance of the parent inheriting jointly with the testator's spouse is half of the inheritance.
Art. 933 [Participation in the succession of the spouse].
§ The share of the succession of the spouse who inherits jointly with the testator's parents, siblings and descendants is half of the succession.
§ 2 In the absence of the testator's descendants, his parents, siblings and their descendants, the entire inheritance falls to the testator's spouse.

Art. 934 [Grandparents' share of the estate].
§ (1) In the absence of descendants, spouse, parents, siblings and descendants of the testator's siblings, the entire inheritance shall fall to the grandparents of the testator; they shall inherit in equal shares.
§ If one of the testator's grandparents did not live to see the opening of the inheritance, the share of the inheritance that would have gone to them falls to their descendants. This share shall be distributed in accordance with the rules governing the distribution of the inheritance among the testator's descendants.
§ If there are no descendants of the grandparent who did not live to see the opening of the inheritance, the share of the inheritance that would have fallen to him shall fall to the remaining grandparents in equal parts.
Art. 9341 [Inheritance of stepchildren].
In the absence of the testator's spouse and relatives called to inherit by law, the inheritance shall fall in equal parts to the children of the testator's spouse, neither of whose parents lived up to the opening of the inheritance.

Art. 935 [Last statutory heirs].
In the absence of the testator's spouse, his/her relatives and children of the testator's spouse who are called to the inheritance by law, the inheritance falls to the municipality of the testator's last place of residence as a statutory heir. If the testator's last place of residence in the Republic of Poland cannot be established or the testator's last place of residence was located abroad, the inheritance falls to the State Treasury as a statutory heir.

Art. 9351 [Exclusion of a separated spouse].
The provisions regarding a statutory appointment to the inheritance shall not apply to the testator's separated spouse.

Art. 936 [Inheritance in the event of full adoption].
§ 1 The adopted person shall inherit from the adopter and his/her relatives as if he/she were the adopter's child, and the adopter and his/her relatives shall inherit from the adopted person as if the adopter were the adopted person's parent.
§ (2) An adoptee shall not inherit from his natural ascendants and their relatives, and these persons shall not inherit from him.
§ If one spouse has adopted the child of the other spouse, the provisions of § 2 shall not apply to that spouse and his or her relatives, and if such adoption has taken place after the death of the other parent of the adopted person, also to relatives of the deceased whose rights and obligations arising from kinship have been maintained in the adoption judgment.
Article 937 [Inheritance in the case of incomplete adoption].
If the effects of the adoption consist solely in the creation of a relationship between the adopter and the adopted, the following provisions shall apply:

1) the adoptee shall inherit from the adopter on an equal footing with the adopter's children, and the adopted person's descendants shall inherit from the adopter on the same basis as the testator's further descendants;
2) the adopted person and his descendants shall not inherit from the adopter's relatives, and the adopter's relatives shall not inherit from the adopted person and his descendants;
3) the adopted person's parents do not inherit from the adopted person, and the adopter inherits from the adopted person instead of them; besides, adoption does not affect the vocation to inherit resulting from kinship.
Art. 938 [Rights of the testator's grandparents].
If the testator's grandparents are in a state of privation and cannot receive the maintenance due to them from the persons who have a statutory obligation to maintain them, they may request from the heir unburdened with such an obligation maintenance in proportion to their needs and to the value of their share of the inheritance. The heir may also satisfy this claim by paying the testator's grandparents a sum of money equivalent to one-fourth of his share of the estate.

Article 939 [Surrogate's legacy].
§ 1 A spouse who inherits by operation of law jointly with other heirs, except for the testator's descendants who were living together with the testator at the time of the testator's death, may claim from the inheritance over and above his/her share of the inheritance the household effects which the testator used jointly with the testator or exclusively by himself/herself during his/her lifetime. The spouse's claims in this respect shall be governed by the provisions on ordinary legacies as appropriate.
§ The spouse is not entitled to the above entitlement if the spouses' cohabitation ceased during the testator's lifetime.
Art. 940 [Exclusion of the testator's spouse from legal succession].
§ 1 The spouse is excluded from the inheritance if the testator has requested that a divorce or separation be pronounced for their fault, and the request was justified.
§ The spouse is excluded from the inheritance by court decision. The exclusion may be requested by any of the other statutory heirs called to the succession jointly with the spouse; the time limit for bringing an action is six months from the date on which the heir learned about the opening of the succession, but no longer than one year from the opening of the succession.

 

Extract from the Polish Civil Code valid as of 28.01.2022