The draft amendment of the Civil Code announces a change in the law of succession. The amendment provides, among other things, for an extension of the grounds for recognising the heir as unworthy of inheritance, and also changes the rules of rejecting the inheritance on behalf of the child.
one of the planned changes concerns the institution of the inadmissibility of inheritance regulated by the current Article 928 KC. The current wording of the provision contains 4 conditions when the heir may be considered unworthy of inheritance, i.e. when:
- has committed an intentional serious crime against the heir,
- By tricking or threatening, he urged the faller to draw up or revoke a will or in the same way hindered him from doing so one of these activities,
He deliberately hid or destroyed the heir's will, forged or forged his will, or deliberately exercised his will by another forger or forger.
The proposed amendment introduces another condition, i.e. the persistent failure to perform maintenance obligations towards the heir or the persistent evasion of custody of the heir.
As the legislator pointed out in the justification for the draft amendment, the legal system should respond to ethically incorrect behaviours of those who can benefit from the inheritance.
Important in this respect is the term "continuous", which means long-term, repetitive behaviour, but it will be the court that will assess every time whether we are dealing with persistent failure to perform a maintenance obligation or persistent evasion of the care of the heir.
The next amendment concerns Article 934 KC, who currently states that in the absence of children, a spouse, parents, siblings and siblings of the heir, the inheritance falls to the grandfathers of the heir, inheriting them in equal parts. If one of the inheritance's grandparents did not live to see the inheritance open, part of the inheritance falls to his children, and when they are not, the inheritance falls to other grandparents in equal parts. The new wording of the provision assumes that:
- if any of the inheritance's grandparents have not lived to see the inheritance open, the inheritance which he would have received shall be shared by his children in equal parts;
- if the child of any of the inheritance's grandparents has not lived to see the inheritance open, the inheritance which he would have received shall be due to his children;
- in the absence of children of this grandfather who has not lived to see the opening of the inheritance and their children, the inheritance which he would have received shall be allocated to the remaining grandparents in equal parts.
Consequently, the limitation of the circle of heirs, the time of succession proceedings may be reduced, as the circle of persons called to decline is decreasing.
The amendment is also intended to regulate the situation where the heir is a child or a person who remains in care. The acceptance or rejection of inheritance by parents or guardians requires the consent of the court. As provided for in Article 1015 KC 6- a month's time to make a declaration of acceptance or rejection, often too short.
In contrast to this issue, the legislator proposed a solution which assumes that, in order to maintain the aforementioned deadline, it is sufficient to submit a request to the court before it expires to receive a declaration of acceptance or rejection of the inheritance.
On the other hand, where a declaration of acceptance or rejection of a succession requires the authorisation of the court, the duration of the time limit for the submission of the declaration shall be suspended for the duration of the judicial proceedings in that matter.
The amendment also concerns Article 1030 KC and liability of the municipality and State Treasury for inheritance debts, by adding to it section 2 of content: The Treasury or the municipality whose inheritance has fallen under the Act shall be liable for inheritance debts only from inheritance.
The proposed changes can be initially assessed as positive and necessary, but only the final form of the Act and its entry into force will allow a real assessment of this change.