On November 8, 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal of the Firm’s client’s opponent challenging the decision of the District Court in Krakow on the determination of the acquisition of an inheritance on the basis of a German joint will (the so-called Berliner Testament). Based on this will, the Firm’s Client – a German registry association – inherited the estate. The Supreme Court agreed with the Firm’s argument that the issue of joint disposition on death is an element of form and not of substance of the last will. Thus, it reasonably concluded that the prohibition of joint wills expressed in Article 942 of the Civil Code is of formal nature, and that therefore the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, concerning the conflict of laws on the subject of the form of testamentary dispositions will apply to foreign joint wills. Consequently, a joint last will, drawn up in accordance with the requirements set forth by the conjunctions formulated in Article 1 of the Convention, is valid under Polish law and will also form the basis of inheritance with respect to components of the estate located in Poland, in particular real estate. The Supreme Court also adopted the pro-community interpretation of Article 8(2) of the Law of March 24, 1920 on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners, advocated by the Firm, ruling that the exemption from the obligation to obtain a permit for the acquisition of real estate also applies to a foreigner who is a legal entity without the status of an entrepreneur, if its seat is located in a state – a party to the Agreement on the EEA or the Swiss Confederation. Read more on this topic: https://www.prawo.pl/prawnicy-sady/wspolny-testament-reczny-malzonkow-jest-wazny,529933.html
File number II CSKP 179/23, I Ca 2245/18
