Lawyer - Inheritance

Hi everyone,

I live in Canada. In 2018 my dad passed away and then in 2022 my grandma passed away. I found out through my second cousin that something happened and it may have been criminal. My grandma's apartment went to a relative I never met (possibly 2nd cousin's daughter?) And another 2nd cousin was involved too. My grandma also owned land. We have no idea what happened to the land paperwork. I wasn't even allowed to enter my grandma's apartment, apparently there was a flood and it wasn't well looked after. Apparently a bunch of furniture was thrown out. I'm sure these relatives took her jewelry and other valuables that I will never get to see. It sucks I can't prove this in court. Funny thing is when the flood happened and the water bill was really high, they tried to get me to pay for it and told me it was my responsibility. I went to the water utility place in Poland with my ex-cousins wife and they told me it wasn't because it wasn't in my name.

I hired a lawyer in Poland, my cousin's ex-wife is helping me. I understand everything in Polish but I can't speak fluently. The problem is I feel in the dark because I can't/don't communicate with the lawyer. I think my cousin's ex-wife wife has my best intentions, we were always close and I stay with her when I visit. There is a lot more to it and my lawyer tried to file a criminal case but the judge threw it out and now he is appealing. My grandma was not of sound mind when the will was rewritten and she was taken to a notary. My lawyer is trying to see if these relatives profited since my grandma was sick and put into a nursing home. I can't remember the word but the relative that stole my grandma's apartment was her like care taker while she was in the nursing home. The lawyer said either I'd have to split the apartment with this cousin or I'd win everything. It's frustrating because occasionally I sent money because the lawyer needs to get more paperwork from different places to make my case stronger. If my dad was still alive this wouldn't have happened. I can't believe these relatives are doing this to me, I'm fighting because it's the principle of it all. I had to fly down to Poland and was so upset when I missed my grandma's funeral. This was still during the pandemic so it was a pain. I had to get tested before going etc.

We got all the medical papers from the nursing home. My grandma had a tumour in her dead and was very hard at hearing. I even hired a medical professional to go through her medical records and provide his professional opinion if she was of sound mind or not.

I was hoping someone would be able to give me some Insight to inheritance law in Poland and any other advice really.

Thank you all in advance and I hope I provided enough information.

That is a lot to absorb but one important piece of info is that even if paperwork for the land has been lost, all of the details of the titles and any changes are here

gov.pl/web/sprawiedliwosc/ksiegi-wieczyste

Your first step is to look at the ksiegi wieczyste ,

Yes, it's messy.

Thank you so much, I will review that.

Sorry but I'm not sure as to what information do you want?
Do you want to ask about the inheritance law?
Or about challenging a will?

@Lenka
Did you even read my post? I literally wrote 'I was hoping someone would be able to give me some Insight to inheritance law in Poland and any other advice really.'

@Lorena12

Lenka is known to be very kind, and we generally do not address her in this fashion. Please be kind to use different language in the future.

P.S. - She wanted a more "concrete" definition of your problem.

@Bobko
I was being direct, that's not unkind. Your post isn't of any value to me. Please don't post on my thread if it's not helpful.

Sorry, should be clearer- can you be more specific about what you want to know?

I can tell you how inheritance is split if there is no will but it will be of no use if there was one. Did she sign things over when alive etc. Your post while describing situation is not Rich in detail.

For example how was the apartament stolen? You mention carers there- was the apartament signed over in Exchange for care ?


Thank you but I will manage somehow to defend myself :D

@Lenka

Hello,

I suppose I just wanted some insight or reassurance.

Thank you for your response, to be honest I'm not sure. I believe there is another will my grandma signed but I haven't seen it. The will that I received had my name and my siblings but it didn't make sense because property and other things wasn't divided amongst us. We weren't entitled to anything. When I was in Poland we had to pressure the 2nd cousin to receive this will.

She apparently signed things over while alive but I don't know the extent of it since I never saw the documents. The 2nd cousins refused to meet me in Poland. To me the apartment feels like it was stolen, my grandma wasn't in the nursing home for long. I strongly believe that the apartment wasn't signed in for exchange for care because of my relationship with my grandma but her health did decline.

It's an awful position to be in and I'm just trying to education myself as much as possible and just trying to understand the whole situation.

Thank you for your response and clarification.

The testament(will) is challengeable if it was not signed in front of a Notary and even if it was how was your grandmas mental state which has to be certified by a medical doctor.Get a good attorney to find that from your relatives,also the latest testament will be considered not the older one.Your attorney can find out everything(in discovery proceedings)before even filing a case (.Of course they can claim a part or whole fighting the case if they can afford a attorney.Depends on the value of the property,you have to decide if its worth it after the legal costs.


Not really,its easy if you know the procedure or have a good attorney.

@Cargo pants

I already have a lawyer, I'll update on this thread once the case is settled.

Thanks for the info it was helpful.