Inheritance – what you should know about it?
When we are young, we rarely think about inheritance matters. As the years pass, however, we begin to wonder more and more often about who will receive the wealth we have earned.
When we are young, we rarely think about inheritance matters. However, as the years of our lives go by, we start to think more and more often about who will receive the assets we have earned.
Especially in today’s pandemic-stricken world, it’s a good idea to take care of it in advance. But how to do it the right way, without getting lost in the maze of complicated regulations?
Inheritance – what it is?
Inheritance It is nothing else than a transfer of property rights and obligations of the deceased to certain persons. Succession law in Poland regulates its two basic forms: inheritance the statutory and inheritance testament. This is particularly true if there is no will, if it is invalid, or if the heirs named in the will reject the will decline of. Then the property of the deceased is acquired by his children and spouse, but the share of the latter cannot be less than ¼ of the estate. If one of the children dies earlier, his/her share is passed on to his/her descendants. In turn, when the testator was childless, heirs become his parents, followed by siblings and grandparents. As a last resort, the estate of a deceased who has no relatives will be taken over by the commune where he/she last lived or by the State Treasury.
Wills – how to make one?
The way to avoid such a situation is to draw up a will, i.e. a document containing the last will of its author (called testator). Inheritance law provides for its three basic forms. The first of these will handwritten, signed personally by the testator and dated. Therefore it is not necessary to visit a notary to decide about the post-mortem fate of the property we have accumulated, although in fact it will Notarization is considered to be the method that guarantees the greatest certainty as to the authenticity and correctness of the document. A relatively unknown and popular form of will is the so-called “testator’s will”. will Allographical, consisting of an oral declaration of will to an official (mayor, town mayor, head of the district authority or head of the register office) and two witnesses.
Inheritance – limitation of a testator’s will
Regardless of the content of the will, succession law It provides that the spouse and children (or parents in their absence, as already mentioned) of the bequeather should receive at least ½ of what they would receive if the bequeather died testament has not been executed. This solution, the so-called retention, it limits to a certain degree the freedom to dispose of one’s assets in case of death. The only way to circumvent it is disinheritance, meaning the deprivation of a right described above. In order to do so, the testator should make a provision in his last will and testament. However, he can only do this if he is entitled to a reserved share:
- persistently acts contrary to the testator’s will or
- he/she has committed an intentional crime against life, health (e.g. against the bequeather or one of his/her closest relatives). beating) or freedom (e.g. kidnapping) or gross defamation of honour or
- persistently fails to fulfill family obligations towards a testator.
When disinheriting a testator, one of the above reasons should be cited as justification.
Acceptance and assertion of rights to an inheritance
Although this text deals with succession mainly from the position of the testator, it is worth mentioning a little about the situation in which the heir finds himself. From the moment he finds out that he is an heir, he has 6 months to decide whether to accept or reject the inheritance. Nowadays, however, it is no longer of such significance, since a failure to make any statement within the above time limit results in the so-called. accepting the succession with the benefit of inventory, which means that the testator will be liable for any debts of the testator only from what he has left behind. The heir may also seek court confirmation of his status by filing a petition for declaration of inheritance. As a rule, however, it cannot take place earlier than 6 months after the testator’s death. Another way to prove your rights is through a Certificate of Inheritance, issued by a notary public.