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My Parent Just Died in Poland and I Live Abroad: The First Things to Do With Their Property

You get the call, or the email, or the message from a cousin still in Poland, and everything else stops. Somewhere between the grief and the time difference, there's a property in Łódź, or Pabianice, or a village outside Zgierz, that now needs someone to deal with it, and that someone is you, from a different country, with no idea where to even start. This isn't a legal textbook. It's the order we'd actually tell you to do things in, based on what trips up families in your exact position, over and over.

Step 1: Get the official death certificate

The death certificate (odpis aktu zgonu) is issued by the USC, the Polish civil registry office (Urząd Stanu Cywilnego) for the district where the death was registered, usually where it occurred. If a funeral home in Poland handled the arrangements, they've often already requested it or can point you to the right office. This document is the key that opens every other door: the notary won't proceed without it, a Polish consulate abroad won't process a declaration without it, and a bank won't discuss an account without it. If you're not in Poland, a relative or the funeral director can request it on your behalf, or a Polish consulate can help you order it from abroad.

Step 2: Find out if there's a will

Ask family who was close to your parent, check with any notary they may have used locally, and, since 2011, it's worth checking the Notarial Register of Wills (Notarialny Rejestr Testamentów) through any Polish notary, which covers wills deposited with a notary (not wills written entirely by hand and kept at home, which won't show up there). A will changes who inherits and in what shares, and it can also name an executor, so this step should happen early, before you assume the default statutory order of inheritance (spouse and children first, in typical shares) applies.

Step 3: Check what property actually exists

Don't assume you know the full picture, families are often surprised by what turns up, or doesn't. If you have a land registry number (numer księgi wieczystej) from old paperwork, you can look the property up for free through the Centralna Baza Ksiąg Wieczystych, Poland's central land registry database, and see who's listed as owner, what the legal status is, and whether there's a mortgage or other encumbrance attached. If you don't have the number, a Polish notary or lawyer can search using your parent's name and last known address. It's also worth checking the Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych, the National Debtors' Register, to see if any debt is tied to your parent or the property itself, better to know now than after you've accepted the inheritance outright.

Step 4: Understand your 6-month clock has already started

This is the part that catches almost every foreign heir off guard, because nothing like it exists in US or UK probate law. From the day you learn you're an heir, which for a child of the deceased is usually the day of the death itself, you have 6 months to file a declaration: accept the inheritance outright, accept it "with benefit of inventory" (your liability for any debt is capped at the estate's value), or reject it entirely. Miss that window and, since a 2015 reform, Polish law now defaults to the safer "with benefit of inventory" option rather than full unlimited liability, but you've still lost the ability to actively choose, and foreign heirs regularly don't find out this deadline exists until it's nearly gone. You can file the declaration before a Polish notary, or before a Polish consul if you're doing this from abroad. We cover this deadline in full detail, including exactly how the clock and the exceptions work, in a separate guide.

Step 5: Decide between a notary and a court for the inheritance certificate

You can't legally sell, transfer, or do much of anything with the property until your status as heir is formally confirmed, either through a notarial deed of succession (akt poświadczenia dziedziczenia) or a court order (postanowienie o stwierdzeniu nabycia spadku). If every heir agrees on who inherits what, a notary can issue the certificate in a single appointment, and it doesn't have to happen in person for everyone, one representative can act for the rest with a power of attorney. If there's any disagreement, or an heir who can't be reached, it goes to court instead, and that route takes longer. If the deceased lived in Poland, Polish law governs the Polish property regardless of your nationality; for heirs based in the EU the EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 usually applies based on last habitual residence, but it doesn't cover US-based estates, where Polish private international law applies instead.

Step 6: Don't let the property sit unwatched

While all of this gets sorted, the property doesn't pause. Home insurance can lapse if no one's actively managing the policy. Utilities and any co-op or community (spółdzielnia or wspólnota) fees keep accruing whether the flat is occupied or not. An empty building deteriorates faster than people expect, damp, break-ins, pipes freezing in a Polish winter, and neighbors or the housing association can end up chasing the estate for unpaid fees. None of this needs a finished inheritance certificate to happen, ask a relative or a trusted neighbor to check in periodically, or arrange for someone local to handle it, even before the legal side is settled.

We had a client whose mother passed away in a prewar apartment building in Widzew, the kind of solid, high-ceilinged block put up during Łódź's textile boom, the era so much of this housing dates to, and often exactly why families abroad end up with a Łódź property in the first place, an ancestor who left for work in Chicago or Manchester a generation or two back. She was in the UK, had never handled Polish paperwork before, and was mainly worried about getting something wrong or missing a deadline she didn't know existed. We walked her through the order of steps, helped confirm what the land registry actually showed, and once her inheritance was confirmed, bought the apartment directly, so she never had to fly over, deal with a Polish estate agent, or manage repairs on a flat she hadn't set foot in for years.

If you decide selling makes more sense than keeping it

A lot of families in your position aren't looking to hold onto a property thousands of miles from where they live. If that's you, once the inheritance is confirmed, here's how a direct sale with us works:

• The price is 70-90% of market value, depending on 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 on the property is settled directly out of the sale price.

If you're staring at a list of Polish institutions you've never heard of and don't know which one to call first, call us instead. We'll tell you plainly what applies to your situation and what doesn't.

Straight answers

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