Inheriting Together From Abroad: How Siblings in Different Countries Can Agree to Sell a Polish Property
This one comes up more than you'd think: three or four siblings or cousins inherit a flat or a house in Poland, nobody actually lives there, and nobody actively opposes selling it either. Everyone just agrees, in principle, that selling makes sense. The problem is that "in principle" doesn't sign a notarial deed. One heir is in Chicago, another's in Dublin, a third hasn't answered a WhatsApp message in three weeks. The property sits empty, the clock keeps running on costs, and nothing moves, not because anyone's fighting over it, but because getting everyone's actual signature on actual paper turns out to be harder than the family expected.
Short version
Selling an inherited property in Poland requires every co-owner's agreement, whether that's one heir or six. If you can't get it, any heir can ask a court to order a division or sale, which typically takes 3-12 months and eats into everyone's share. Most families avoid that route by naming one person, or the buyer's side, as representative under a power of attorney, and splitting the proceeds proportionally at the notary. None of the heirs need to travel to Poland to make this work.
Why one "yes" from everyone isn't optional
When several people inherit a property together, Polish law treats it as joint ownership of the whole thing, not separate ownership of individual rooms or floors. Each heir's share is a fraction of the entire property, confirmed either by a notarial deed of succession (if all heirs agree on who inherits what) or a court's inheritance order (if there's a dispute). Selling the property as a whole, to one buyer, in one transaction, legally requires every single co-owner to consent, whether their share is a half, a third, or a twelfth. One heir refusing, or simply going unreachable, is enough to stop a sale in its tracks, even if the other four are ready to sign tomorrow.
What happens if you genuinely can't get everyone on board
If agreement isn't realistic, any co-owner can petition a Polish court for zniesienie współwłasności, division of the jointly owned property. The court can order the property physically split (rarely practical for a single flat), award it to one heir who buys out the others, or order it sold with the proceeds divided according to each heir's share. This route works, but it's slow: figure 3 to 12 months depending on the court's caseload and whether anyone contests the details, plus legal fees that come straight out of the estate, meaning out of everyone's eventual share, including the heir who didn't want to go to court in the first place. It's a real option, and sometimes the only one left, but it's rarely anyone's first choice once they understand the cost and the wait.
How families actually coordinate this from three different countries
- One point of contact. Almost every family that gets this done smoothly designates one heir, often whoever's closest to Poland geographically or has the best Polish, to be the single line of communication with the notary, the lawyer, or us.
- Power of attorney to a representative. Each heir abroad signs a power of attorney, apostilled in their home country (standard for the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and most of the EU under the Hague Apostille Convention), sworn-translated into Polish, authorizing either the family's chosen representative or the buyer's side to sign the sale on their behalf. This is the single biggest thing that makes a remote, multi-country sale possible at all.
- Confirm the inheritance first, on paper, for everyone. Before any sale can happen, the notarial deed of succession or court order needs to spell out exactly who inherited what percentage. That document is what the notary uses to calculate each person's share of the final payout, so it needs to be accurate and final before you move further.
- Agree the split in writing before signing day. Even when shares are equal on paper, families sometimes agree informally to divide proceeds differently, say, one heir handled all the paperwork and gets a bit more. Put it in writing before the notary appointment, not after money has already moved.
We handled a case like this with three heirs to an apartment in the Chojny district: one sister in Chicago, a brother in Dublin, and their cousin still living in Łódź, who'd inherited a share after her own mother passed. None of them wanted the flat, none of them had seen it in years, and none of them were fighting about it, they just couldn't figure out how to actually get it sold from three time zones. We walked them through getting apostilled powers of attorney done in parallel, in Illinois and in Ireland, while the cousin in Łódź handled the small local pieces in person. From first call to a signed deed took about six weeks, most of which was waiting on document translation and courier time, not disagreement.
What tends to actually break down family agreement
It's rarely the money. It's usually one of three things: someone genuinely can't be located (an estranged sibling, a cousin who moved and never updated anyone), someone is dragging their feet on paperwork because grief makes the whole process feel like another thing to deal with, or nobody wants to be the one who "deals with Poland" so it just doesn't happen for a year. A direct sale helps with the second and third problems specifically, because it removes the parts that usually take longest: no listing, no showings, no waiting for a mortgage buyer's bank to approve a multi-party seller structure. We can work with a representative and a stack of powers of attorney directly, which is exactly the structure most scattered families already need.
Honest terms if you decide to sell
- The price is 70-90% of market value, depending on the legal and physical condition.
- The valuation is always free, ready within 2 days of contact.
- Closing happens from 4 days after you accept the offer.
- Costs on your side: none. Any debt settlement is built into the process.
Disclaimer
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice for your individual situation. The law can change and every case is different. Before making a decision, consult a qualified lawyer, tax advisor, or notary.
If your family is stuck trying to coordinate a sale across three countries and two time zones, you don't need to solve that alone. Tell us how many heirs are involved and roughly where everyone lives, and we'll tell you plainly what the paperwork path actually looks like for your situation.
Straight answers
Do all heirs really have to agree before an inherited property in Poland can be sold?
What happens if one heir refuses to sell or we can't reach them?
Can heirs abroad sign a power of attorney so only one person has to deal with Poland?
How is the money split when multiple heirs abroad sell together?
Does everyone need to travel to Poland to sign?
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