Why do you need a confirmation of estate acquisition?
The most important proceedings which must be instituted in order to manage the legal affairs of the deceased are those concerning confirmation of estate acquisition. This document specifies how the inherited estate is to be shared and who is entitled to it. The heirs may decide how such proceedings are to be conducted. They can be conducted by a notary public who issues a relevant notarial certificate. However, in such a case all heirs must cooperate with one another closely, appear at the notary’s office and univocally agree upon a specific mode of succession. If no such agreement can be reached, the succession case must be submitted to a court.
Who can file a motion for the confirmation of estate acquisition?
In order to institute court proceedings, a motion for the confirmation of estate acquisition must be filed by at least one heir. Such motion may also be filed by creditors of the deceased in order to disclose his/her successors and claim compensation from them. The motion may be filed at any point of time, even many years after the person’s death, since such right is not subjected to time-limits.
Depending on the court and participants of the succession proceedings, the confirmation of estate acquisition may either be obtained immediately, or processed for many years.
How to conduct succession proceedings?
Our lawyers will help you to conduct succession proceedings efficiently, without losing money, and to file a motion for confirmation of estate acquisition. They may also represent you before courts.
The circle of heirs can be either defined by the statutory provisions and includes the closest relatives of the deceased, or by the Last Will and Testament of the deceased, in which case, the circle of heirs may also include non-related third parties.
Challenging of the Last Will
Even though the applying for the confirmation of estate acquisition is a non-litigious process, in many cases participants expecting the court to confirm their rights to the estate and recognise them as heirs are in dispute and have conflicting interests. A good example is challenging of the Last Will and Testament by third parties also willing to be recognised as heirs. The statutory inheritance regime may be completely different than the one prescribed by the testator’s Last Will. Hence, in many cases not all participants are not recognised as heirs by the court. If such Last Will and Testament were deemed valid, the testator’s closest relatives who would otherwise be his/her statutory heirs may be completely omitted in the succession. Meanwhile, should the Last Will and Testament be declared invalid, the court may resolve that the closest relatives of the deceases shall come into an inheritance, irrespectively of its content.
Such judicial confirmation of estate acquisition authorises all heirs specified therein to dispose of the inherited estate. If there are several heirs and the mass of succession includes for e.g. real estate, it must be divided among them in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Polish Civil Code.
Determination of the estate
Our law firm provides legal aid in determination of the mass of succession including, in particular, bank accounts, real estate and other property rights of the deceased.
In some situations, the court fails to notify all heirs of the pending succession proceedings and they remain unaware of it. In such a case, the court proceedings continue despite their absence and such heirs are omitted in the confirmation of estate acquisition. This often happens when other heirs fail to notify the court about the existence of other relatives and heirs of the deceased. Sometimes the omitted heir turns out to have greater rights to inheritance than other participants of the proceedings. In such cases, our law office will help you to reverse or amend the incorrect judicial decision confirming acquisition of the estate.
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