Appreciate feedback/attorney referral for Warsaw property for my uncle that passed intestate.

Live in America and uncle passed in 2011 without a will. He lived in Warsaw and owned at least his apartment and perhaps something outside of Warsaw. How does one start the fact finding mission? Perhaps a referral of attorney in Warsaw. I speak Polish but very limited with reading and writing.

Hello Henryk I am a Polish attorney from Warsaw if you still need any help please contact me via email or private message

To: Sylwia

This site has some reason for not being able to contact you (Sylwia) directly so I may be reached at HenrykSek1@gmail. Looking forward to your reply.

My father left Poland at the start of WW2 and arrived in England with the Polish forces having been wounded and spent some time in hospital.he later met and married my mother. He was always reluctant to talk much about his past life in Poland and his war time experience so I new very little about his family. My Father died in 1976 and I thought that I would never find out any further details about his past life.

My Mother and I decided to try to find out a little more about my Farther in September 2015 and applied for his war records sadly my mother died on 18 December 2015 and the records of my father arrived on the 19/12/2015.

My Fathers records were all hand written in polish and therefore not understandable by me, however I was fortunate in discovering that one of my sons colleagues at work is polish and has very kindly translated some documents for me.

I have now discovered the name of the village where my father was born and the name of my grandfather and grand mother and with the help of my sons colleague who used Facebook to look for possible relatives in that area, I am now aware of some distant relatives who I have recently visited they have given me some information about my fathers family who were land owners and I have visited the grave of my grand parents and my uncle.

My uncle died in 1926 my grandfather died in 1937 and my grandmother died in 1944 and so my father should have inherited the estate but he never returned to Poland and although I believe he was aware of his mothers death I do not know why he never returned to Poland.

My visit to Poland was very short (3 days over a weekend) so there was not much time to do any real research but I was told that there were very bitter disputes in the family over who was to inherit my grandmothers estate.

I have done some research into polish law which to me seems quite complex but I can only assume that there must have been a court case to dispose of my grandmothers estate which did so on the basis that my father was dead. If that decision was incorrect can It now be reconsidered and corrected or is there a statute of limitations that would apply in these circumstances. Where could I obtain records of that court case if they still exist,are probate records publicly available in Poland as they in the UK.

I would be grateful for any advice in relation to this situation or any recommendation of an English speaking lawyer in the area of katowice/czestochowa.

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Normally 10 years but can be exceptions.

As I understand you want to challenge a settlement from the late 40s ? Unless there is an oil well or a shopping mall on top of it then I wold give it up as a bad job. If you were not born at the time of your grandmothers death then you would not have rights as a grandchild. There is unlikely to be much documention as the judges were all busy hanging people straight after the war. A final complication is that many of the beneficiaries will also be dead by now.

The immediate post-war period in Poland was a very difficult time, some of the returning soldiers, especially those from affluent or educated backgrounds were put in 'labour battalions' which were effectively prisons. Some were executed.


If probate was signed off at the time, it might (and should be) be too late. You also need to consider that it's been someone's property now for three generations or more and they would be appalled at a distant relative (that they don't know or consider to be family) from another country trying to take it from their family on the basis of a pre-war will. Worth putting yourself in their shoes here.

And what would you do with these people's land if you actually got it back? Move to Poland and take up farming?