Claiming Zachowek from Australia

I'm in the process of claiming Zachowek from the inheritance of my late father who died in Poland. I understand that as his only biological child I'm entitled to 50% of the inheritance I would normally receive, which I will share with his wife's child (the wife is also deceased), so that's effectively 25% - is it correct?

How is the real estate divided? Can I claim a portion of its value under Zachowek? My father had 50% stake in it, so that would be 1/8 of the market value I can claim?

And finally, do I have a choice of the way the money will be transferred, i.e not by cheque/mail but an online transfer ether to my bank account or better still via one of the international money transfers companies?

I would appreciate some thoughts in reply. By the way, I speak and read Polish perfectly, just typing it on the English keyboard is cumbersome.:-)

thanks!

If you know Polish then you should really check on a Polish legal website. There are plenty of them, including 'ask a lawyer type' ones. Inheritance can be quite complex in Poland and I'm sure you're aware that you are also inheriting any debts your father may have had so even if there is money in the bank, or a property which is free of encumbrances/mortgage, there may be unpaid loans or credit agreements, or pending proceedings from a debt collection agency or bailiff that you're not yet aware of, so just be careful.

@Atch Thanks for your advice. I prefer this forum. As to inheriting debts - that's not pertinent to my case. Since you seem to know a lot about zachowek, would you care to answer my questions?

Why is that?


As I understand it, your father left a will but didn't make provision for you in that will, therefore you're invoking zachowek (if he died without leaving a will you and your step-sibling would share the estate between you equally).Under zachowek, yes, you would get one quarter of his estate.

You mention real estate - you say your father had a 50% stake in it. That complicates matters a bit as his stake becomes part of his estate and you and your step sibling will each own a quarter share of the real estate but to get the cash value of it would require the cooperation of the surviving owner which is not a given.

As to how the money is transferred bank transfers are the usual method of payment these days in business transactions in Poland.

@Atch

ok, thank you.

I suspect that the owner wants to sell that property and since it is included in the inheritance, they can't do that without sharing the profit with me under Zachowek (to which they have agreed I am entitled to). So that would be 1/4 of the cash inheritance and 1/8 of the market value of the real estate.

Bank transfer is good.

See? I got the answers to my questions on this lovely forum in one day. It would take me ages to get anything from the "law" websites. ;-)

Only because you stumbled across the know-all of the forum :-D


Because of the poxy exchange rate and bank fees/commission, you might want to look into the best way to receive the money in order to get the maximum amount of Australian dollars.

I am glad I did :-)

another issue with the information about zachowek posted on the legal firm's website is that it is tailored to the inevitable conclusion that this process is so complicated that you do NEED to engage a lawyer (of course) - which is not true in straightforward cases.

I've been to many such websites; however, as I happen to have an x-ray vision of the hidden agendas, logical mind and a lot of common sense - well, I don't fall in this trap :-)

re the money transfer - ideally I'd like to use one of the international money transfers companies (certified by authorities in Australia) such as ToRFX, as they offer much better exchange rates than banks, and no fees. The catch is that it is the sender who needs to engage them, not the receiver, and I don't anticipate that the other party would be interested in maximising the transfer amount for me. So unless there is a Court order to this effect, I'm sure they will use the easiest methods available which is bank transfer.

I don't think you will get any cash for the house until it is sold - so that's the actual sale price of the house, not the market value

Good point. Transaction price versus sale price is generally about 10 per cent less in Poland.


They can be a useful resource if you use them sensibly. I agree that lawyers will nearly always try to convince you that you need their services but it's possible to pick their brains for free to some extent :) On those 'ask a lawyer' sites in Poland they often give quite good answers in the free chat forum part where you post a question.

Forgot to say regarding the transfer, just give them the details of a transfer company of your choice instead of a bank and see what happens. Don't make an issue of it, just chance your arm. If they say 'ooh what's this now?' simply say it's the most commonly used method for large foreign currency transactions in Australia and seem surprised that they're surprised :)

It is really concerning how much misleading information I have received about Zachowek not only from various websites, but most importantly from a couple of Polish lawyers I have consulted directly.

Either they don't know anything about the inheritance laws in Poland, or had a hidden agenda.

I have only now found out (from a reliable source) - dealing with this issue for over a year - that

(1) it is NOT true that Zachowek is paid automatically to the eligible (approved by the Court) persons
(2) eligible persons need to apply for it to the Court, and this process costs a lot of money
(3) the application may or may not be approved by the Court
(4) if it is not approved, the claimant must pay the Court costs
(5) if it is approved and Zachowek is awarded - the Court takes 5% of the total value of Zachowek. So if it is say, $500,000 in total, the Court gets $25,000??

LOL

Really?....a State Court, a government institution wants a percentage of the transaction just for approving it?? You won't see this in a western capitalist country as it would be considered illegal and potentially fraud, if not corruption.

No one of sane mind would ever go down this path, and so I dumped the idea of claiming Zachowek and am pursuing a different legal course action.

Thank God I didn't hire any of those Polish lawyers who claimed that Zachowek is paid automatically to the eligible (approved by the Court) persons.

So much for the integrity of the Polish legal profession.