Ownership of flat after marriage

15POSTS

5 years ago

I am British and my wife is Polish. We married in the UK 23 years ago. At that time my wife owned a flat in Poland. I was informed that under Polish law after the marriage half of the flat belonged to me. I found this rather amusing as at the time foreigners were not allowed to own property in Poland.

In 2014 we decided to make wills / testaments for all our assets. My wife’s will included a clause leaving the flat to our son. Covid 19 has made look again at our wills.

Under the existing will if my wife dies does all of the flat go directly to my son or do he and I each have one half?

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Polterry Member

15POSTS

5 years ago

Thanks for quick response. My memory of the framing of the wills is that it was very frustrating, the ideas on how property should be allocated seemed very different from UK. I have some legal knowledge and obviously the law varies from country to country. There was no mention of a compulsory interpreter but then the flat already belonged to my wife.
We are now living in UK and having some difficulty with handling the matter remotely

pawelga Active member

25POSTS

5 years ago

It's not that easy. Only the assets obtained after the marriage belongs to the couple.
On the other side - even if your wife will explicitly exclude you on the will you still can claim "a compulsory portion of inheritance" (zachówek - can't find a good translation, legitime is close).

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Polterry Member

15POSTS

5 years ago

Thanks for the input.

You are contradicting what I was told many years ago. You state only property obtained AFTER marriage becomes joint property. Therefore individual property owned before marriage remains individual.
That appears a sensible arrangement to me and avoids the need of a prenuptial agreement as required in say USA and in the last few years in the UK.
My wife and I are not "fighting" over the will. It is matter of how to simplify the existing wording without contradicting Polish law.