Other benefits received by the heir from the testator are also included in the inheritance (apart from donations). The group of people entitled to credit the costs of upbringing and education in the inheritance is limited only to descendants who directly inherit from the testator, which means that neither the spouse nor other heirs are subject to the following regulation. Pursuant to Art. 1043 of the Civil Code, the provisions on crediting donations to the inheritance shall apply accordingly to the costs of upbringing, general and vocational education incurred by the testator for the descendant, provided that these costs exceed the average measure adopted in a given environment. The doctrine indicates that the measure of the costs of upbringing and education is determined individually, taking into account the entire property and personal situation of members of a given family. It is assumed that the costs „will exceed the average measure primarily when the high level of education and upbringing of one of the children is achieved at the expense of the others” (E. Skowrońska-Bocian, in: Commentary to the k.c., Ks. IV, 2007, p. 170 ). To confirm this position, the District Court in Białystok in its decision of November 7, 2014, ref. No. II Ca 871/14 refers to the example when people with an average income from among several children send one to study abroad, allocating significant resources for this purpose, which prevents the remaining children from continuing education after completing primary school, so it becomes obvious that only the surplus of costs exceeding the average measure is included in the inheritance, and not all the costs of education. Moreover, the said surplus must be effectively proved by a party in legal proceedings.
„The further descendant should also be counted towards the inheritance scheme of the excess costs of upbringing and education made by the testator in favor of his descendant who did not inherit (appropriate application of Art. 1041).”
In the case covered by the decision of the District Court for Warszawa-Mokotów in Warsaw of June 14, 2016, file ref. I Ns 211/13, the inheritance was based on a will, and not on the basis of an act, which precluded the application of Art. 1043 of the Civil Code in connection with with Article 1039 § 1 of the Civil Code
„Interpretation of Art. 1043 of the Civil Code in connection with joke. 1039 § 1 of the Civil Code, according to which the costs of upbringing and education incurred by the testator for the benefit of the descendant are included in the inheritance in the event of division of the inheritance between the descendants only in the case of statutory inheritance, was adopted by the District Court as the basis for the decision of 30 January 2008 on reference number act V Ca 2291/07 ”.
“The commented provision, which envisages counting in an inheritance on principles such as donations, also costs of education, general and vocational education, was criticized already at the time of the entry into force of the Civil Code. It was then pointed out that its application would give very little economic results, and would cause the parties and courts a lot of trouble and difficulties in calculating the sum of the testator’s benefits and finding out what parts of these benefits were (excessive) costs of education and upbringing.
Nowadays, the importance of this institution, on the one hand, has significantly decreased (mainly due to the universality and availability of higher education). On the other hand, however, a larger number of people use other cost-effective forms of education, such as studies at foreign universities or specialized vocational training (post-graduate studies, training allowing them to perform specific professions). It also happens that parents bear high costs of their children’s specialist sports training aimed at practicing a given discipline in the future. Such training begins in childhood and lasts until the age of several, and most often involves high expenses, including not only training costs, but also trips to competitions, tournaments, sparring etc. „