Inheriting debts. Is it always necessary to reject an inheritance?

Doing nothing no longer means liability with all your assets for inherited debts. Find out when rejecting an inheritance makes sense and how the deadline runs.

Learning that the deceased left debts usually prompts potential heirs to think about rejecting the inheritance quickly. That reaction is rational, but experience shows that it rests mainly on grounds that have been out of date for years.

What happens if you do nothing?

Contrary to popular belief, the absence of any declaration does not currently mean liability with all of your assets. Under Article 1015 of the Civil Code, failure to make a declaration within the time limit is equivalent to accepting the inheritance with the benefit of inventory, i.e. with liability for inheritance debts limited to the value of the assets acquired. This has been the case since the change in the law in 2015, although public awareness still reflects the earlier rule, under which failing to act within the statutory time limit, as a rule, meant accepting the inheritance outright. It should be noted that this did not apply in particular to minors.

This has practical significance. If the estate includes a flat worth three hundred thousand złoty and debts of five hundred thousand, creditors will be satisfied only up to the value of the estate. The rest of your assets are beyond the reach of enforcement. This does not mean, however, that doing nothing is cost-free, since it involves establishing the state of the estate, preparing a list or inventory and settling accounts with creditors. Rejecting the inheritance therefore remains sensible where the estate is clearly negative, or where its state is unknown and the heir does not want to take steps to establish its composition.

When does the six-month period start?

The time limit is six months, but it runs not from the death of the deceased, but from the day on which you learned of the basis of your entitlement to inherit. So it need not be the day of the deceased's death, although that is usually the case. For persons called to inherit only as a result of someone before them rejecting the inheritance, that moment may be many months after the date of death.

The amendment to the Civil Code of 28 July 2023, in force since 15 November 2023, relaxed the rules on this time limit. Under the newly added Article 1015 § 1¹ of the Civil Code, to meet the deadline it is sufficient to file, before the six months expire, an application to the court for the declaration to be received, rather than the declaration itself. In turn, Article 1015 § 1² of the Civil Code provides that where making the declaration requires the court's permission, the running of the time limit is suspended for the duration of those proceedings.

Why does rejecting an inheritance not always close the matter?

A person who has rejected an inheritance is treated as if they had not survived the opening of the succession. Further persons are therefore called to inherit, first of all that person's descendants, i.e. children or grandchildren.

In practice, this means that rejecting an inheritance from an indebted relative does not close the matter, but moves it down a generation, triggering a new six-month time limit for, for example, children. If they are minors, the declaration is made on their behalf by their parents. The 2023 amendment simplified this procedure, and in a typical situation, where a child has been called to inherit as a result of a parent rejecting the inheritance, the permission of the guardianship court is not always necessary. The conditions for this simplification vary, however, and should be verified for the specific family situation, since a declaration made without the required permission will be considered invalid.

For this reason, it is worth making the decision to reject an inheritance and planning the steps for the whole family at once, rather than individually. A sequence of rejections requires planning the order and keeping track of time limits, which run separately for each person.

Where and how to make the declaration?

A declaration rejecting an inheritance is made before a notary or at the district court with jurisdiction over the declarant's place of residence. Both routes are equivalent and differ mainly in waiting time and cost, which is low in both cases. The notarial route is the fastest, while the court route allows you to take advantage of the simplified rule on meeting the time limit described above.

The declaration cannot be withdrawn. Avoiding its effects is possible in the event of error or threat, requires court approval and is difficult to obtain in practice.

What to do before the time limit expires?

The starting point is deciding whether you are interested in acquiring the inheritance at all. Naturally, this should go hand in hand with establishing whether the estate is actually negative. If the state of the estate is unknown, or the debts clearly exceed the assets, it is worth acting, but with a plan that also covers other family members.

The most common mistakes are recurring: counting the time limit from the date of death instead of from learning of the entitlement, "overlooking" the children when planning the rejection, and assuming that silence means immediate financial disaster.

If you have learned of your right to an inheritance that includes debts, your first step need not be an immediate visit to a notary, but establishing two things: when the time limit for rejecting the inheritance started to run, and who else may acquire it if you decide not to. With that knowledge, the decision to reject or accept the inheritance will certainly be better considered.