Poland in Armenia

From 17 August 2015, Regulation (EC) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council has been in force in the Member States of the European Union (except Ireland and Denmark). It has considerable importance for Polish citizens residing in other countries and for their potential heirs. It was adopted in order to simplify and harmonize formalities related to cross-border inheritance cases.

The notion of "cross-border succession (inheritance) procedures" refers to the cases, where there are elements of the legislation of several countries. For instance, the deceased had Polish citizenship, lived in Armenia during the last years of his/her life, but most of the property (e.g. real estate) is located, for example, in Czechia.

 

When dealing with a cross-border, three elements must be ascertained:

 

• which courts will be competent to hear a given case,
• the law of which country should the courts apply when examining/hearing the case,
• in which country the judgment will be enforced.

 

As a result of applying the provisions of the aforementioned regulation, the competent court to hear the case may be a Polish court, which will apply Polish law (provisions of the Civil Code) and the judgment will be enforced on the territory of the Republic of Poland. However, it may happen that a Polish court will be forced to apply Armenian law and the judgment itself will be enforced, for instance, in Germany.

Pursuant to the regulation, the court competent to hear the succession is, in principle, the court of the testator's habitual residence. A place of habitual residence is a place of concentration of life interests - this term does not therefore cover, for instance, death cases occurred during a holiday, delegation mission or short-term contract implementation.

If the testator at the time of his/her death did not have habitual residence in any EU Member State, the competent court will be the court of the EU Member State, which is the location of the estate, provided that the testator at the time of the death was a citizen of that Member State or if not being a citizen had habitual residence in a given country (not earlier than 5 years before the inheritance case was brought to court). This means, for example, that the inheritance case of a Polish citizen who left Poland four years ago, left inheritance property there, and died in Armenia may be brought for the examination of Polish courts.

Note! If the testator makes a statement on the choice of Polish law (detailed information below), his/her heirs have the option of transferring the inheritance case to Poland by concluding a prorogation agreement (even if the provisions of the regulation itself resulted in the jurisdiction of a foreign court).

As a rule, the law applicable to succession matters is the law of the testator's habitual residence at the time of death. Place of habitual residence should be understood as a place of concentration of life interests - this term does not therefore cover, for instance, death cases occurred during a holiday, delegation mission or short-term contract implementation.

Remember, however, that the choice of applicable law does not depend on whether or not the country where the deceased habitually resided is EU Member State. This means that the Polish court hearing the case may in this situation (if it finds that the deceased's habitual residence was Armenia) apply Armenian law, not Polish one. In exceptional circumstances, if it is clear from all the circumstances of the case that, at the time of death, the deceased was explicitly more closely connected to a country other than the country of habitual residence, the law applicable to the succession case is the law of that other country.

To avoid the risk, when Armenian law is applied to the inheritance case of a Polish citizen residing in Armenia, it is possible to make a declaration about the choice of law of the country whose citizenship a person possesses at the time of making the choice. Such statement can be made, for example, in a will.

Template of the statement on the choice of Polish law:

Acting pursuant to art. 22 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions, acceptance and enforcement of authentic documents regarding inheritance and on the establishment of a European Certificate of Succession (Journal of Laws EU. L of 2012, No. 201, item 107, as amended), I declare that I choose Polish law, which is the law of the country which citizenship I possess at the time of making the choice, as the law governing all matters concerning inheritance after my death.

 

If the testator makes such a statement (on the choice of Polish law), his/her heirs have the option of transferring the succession case to Poland by concluding a prorogation agreement (even if the provisions of the ordinance/regulation would result in the jurisdiction of a foreign court).

European Certificate of Succession

The Regulation introduces the institution of European Certificate of Succession. The certificate confirms in another Member State, which is a party to the regulation, the right to succession or the right to individual objects of succession.

More information on this subject can be found on the pages of the European Judicial Atlas in civil matters.

In matters of succession/inheritance it is advised to use the services of a legal advisor or lawyer Poland or Armenia. A list of law firms operating in Armenia is available in the "List of lawyers, notaries and translators" tab.