Proceedings for the division of joint property and for the division of inheritance are, as a rule, two separate proceedings. They can only be connected as a result of a partial personal identity (e.g. as a result of legal succession after the deceased ex-spouse) and objective identity. This was the opinion of the Supreme Court in its decision of January 13, 2016, V CSK 254/15.
The division of the estate and the division of joint property may be combined in one proceeding, if the entire estate or individual items included in it constitute joint ownership for reasons other than inheritance. The provisions on the abolition of joint ownership (Civil Procedure Code Art. 688, Civil Procedure Code Art. 567 § 3) apply accordingly.
Art. 689 of the Code of Civil Procedure allows the case for the division of inheritance to be combined in one proceeding with a case for the dissolution of joint ownership and a case for the division of joint property after the termination of the joint property of the spouses. If the inheritance includes the testator’s share of the property covered by the statutory matrimonial commonality, the division of the joint property, combined in the same proceedings, is necessary to divide the inheritance.
It will be different in a situation where a final judgment has already been passed, deciding on the demand to establish unequal shares of the spouses in the joint property and on claims for reimbursement of expenses, expenditure and other benefits from the joint property for separate property, or vice versa, or the partial division of the inheritance does not apply to the testator’s share in the property common.
The composition and value of the division and the joint property to be divided shall be determined by the court. Composition and condition are determined according to the moment of its opening, and value according to prices at the time of the division.
At the same time, the Supreme Court states that there is no independent normative basis for the merger of cases concerning the division of inheritance and division of joint property with a case for division of the property of a civil partnership.