In order to be able to effectively divide the inheritance with a notary, i.e. the dissolution of joint ownership between heirs, you must first obtain a formal right to acquire the inheritance, which is possible only by a court order or by a notarized inheritance certificate. The second method is certainly more convenient due to the much faster process of a notary office.
Inheritance proceedings are therefore always the first stage to be carried out if it is planned to split the estate so that, for example, one of the heirs becomes the sole owner of a specific component of the estate. The inheritance certificate (or a court decision equivalent to APD confirming the acquisition of an inheritance) is also the legal basis for activities related to, for example, the payment of money from the bank account of the deceased person. Therefore, the conduct of inheritance proceedings should not be underestimated, as it is not only a necessary stage preceding the division of the inheritance, but also a necessary process to enable many mundane activities to be performed after the testator’s death.
The inheritance proceedings conducted by a notary public consist of several notarial deeds (of course, consecutive during a single visit). In a situation where a will was drawn up, it is necessary to present its extract in advance and the first act that will be read by a notary public will be the „Protocol on the opening and announcement of the will”. Then, if 6 months have not elapsed from the moment of death, the „Declaration of acceptance of inheritance” will be read. The six-month period mentioned above is also a possible deadline for submitting a declaration of rejection of inheritance. Another notarial deed is the „Inheritance Protocol”. It is necessary, among others upon its preparation, presentation of documents, i.e. birth certificates of the heirs, certificate of the deceased’s PESEL number, marriage certificates. The most important act among the entire inheritance proceedings is the „Inheritance Certificate Act” (read after the protocol), the heirs of which are most often asked for when dealing with cases, eg in various institutions. A short file, usually containing less than two pages, is the most important, i.e. it confirms in what parts certain heirs acquired the inheritance. The aforementioned APD notary public is obliged to register in the Succession Register immediately after reading it, and then an appropriate annotation is made in the deed. As a rule, the last act is the „Statement”, which concerns the real estate. If the deceased was the owner of any real estate that has a land and mortgage register number, the heirs in such a deed declare that they own or lack such real estate. The cost of the entire inheritance proceedings at the notary’s office depends on the exact number of pages of a given act and the number of extracts downloaded. Nevertheless, it will amount to several hundred zlotys, and practice shows that it is usually over 400 PLN. It should be borne in mind that the notary will only conduct inheritance proceedings if all the heirs are in agreement and appear at the notary’s office at the same time.
As can be seen from the above, obtaining a notarized inheritance certificate or instead of it if the court route is chosen – a court order that states the acquisition of the inheritance in fact begins each inheritance case, and the division of the inheritance is carried out when the number of heirs is greater than one is only in the second the stage of resolution of the inheritance issues, because the necessary condition for the distribution of the inheritance at the notary public is to prove the basis for acquiring the inheritance achieved thanks to the inheritance proceedings.