In the period between the deceased person’s death and division of assets in the deceased person’s estate among the heirs, an essential matter is administration of the estate. Persons exercising such administration should have adequate competences allowing them to perform factual and legal acts in relation to assets in the succession estate. The range of such persons and the scope of their competences differ in specific Member States of the EU. The law applicable to the administration of the estate, as well as other matters relating to succession, is currently designated by the Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012. This article is devoted to an analysis of the provisions of that Regulation on the administration of the estate. In addition, the article discusses the issue of qualifying the institution of succession administration as applicable in Poland with regard to an enterprise belonging to the succession estate. As a result of the investigations made, it can be concluded that administration of the estate is governed by the law applicable to the entirety of succession matters (lex successionis). This is the case also in respect of the succession administration recently introduced in Poland. Grounds for a different treatment of the succession administration cannot be found in Art. 30 of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012.
Mass inflow of Ukrainian citizens into Poland gives rise to many legal issues, including conflict-of-law questions about rights in rem held by such persons both in respect of property left in Ukraine and property brought to Poland. In the context of the prolonged stay of such persons in Poland, one crucial task may be, for example, to establish the law applicable to the disposal of their property brought to Poland under legal acts made in Poland.The Agreement between the Republic of Poland and Ukraine on legal aid and legal relationships in civil and criminal matters, done at Kiev on 24 May 1993, applicable in Polish-Ukrainian relations, devotes several provisions to those questions.However, the Agreement ignores the question of the law applicable to property law relationships having movable items as their objects. In particular, it does not designate the law applicable to contracts transferring the ownership of movable assets and contracts encumbering such assets with limited rights in rem. The relevant norms in this regard are conflict-of-law rules of the Polish Act of 04 February 2011 - Private International Law, and of the Ukrainian confl ict-of-law Act of 23 June 2005, designating the law applicable to property.Accordingly, as long as movable items are located in Poland, Polish law will apply with regard to the respective property law relationships. This is provided for in Article 41 (1) of the Private International Law Act. However, Polish law will not apply to obligational and property rights having as their object immovable properties located in Ukraine, which is covered by Article 32 of the Agreement of 24 May 1993. In this regard, Ukrainian law is exclusively applicable.Under Article 41 (2) of the Private International Law Act, in the assessment of legal relationships relating to a movable property brought to Poland from Ukraine, one should also consider legal events taking place when the asset in question was still in Ukraine. However, the assessment of legal events having an impact on property law relationships taking place in Poland and relating to movable items brought back to Ukraine will be based on the Ukrainian law.
The Supreme Administrative Court has correctly adjudicated that without determining which inheritance law is applicable to the inheritance from the testator, the tax authority cannot categorically claim that an heir subject to inheritance and donation tax acquired the ownership of things or rights by inheritance at the time of the testator’s death. The ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court is also an opportunity to take a broader look at the provisions of the Act of the 28th of July 1983 on inheritance and donation tax which go beyond the issues covered by this jurisdiction. That act also raises other issues the resolution of which requires the application of conflict-of-law rules or, at the very least, of the methods of qualification specific to private international law.The position adopted by the Supreme Administrative Court in this verdict should contribute to the increase of the interest of tax authorities in conflict-of-law issues. Inheritance and donation tax is a public levy with which, due to the nature of the legal events covered by it, there are cases with the so-called „foreign element”. These are also of interest to the conflict-of-law rules. When considering them, as follows from the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court, it is necessary to refer not only to our own (Polish) provisions of civil law, but also, by applying appropriate conflict-of-law rules, to the provisions of foreign civil law.
The article presents the legal situation of an attorney-at-law against the background of the draft of the act on the protection of persons who report breaches of law with particular emphasis on the rules of professional ethics applicable to attorneys-at-law. The admissibility of an attorney-at-law as a whistleblower was settled. Amongst other issues, it was addressed whether an attorney-at-law can report on behalf of an employee (based on a power of attorney) a violation of the law committed by another attorney-at-law and whether they can also make such a report on their behalf.
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