Sons girlfriend has inherited a debt ???

sparkiemalarkie

Apparently my sons girlfriend has inherited a debt of 50,000 euro.... I have never heard of such a thing and naturally a bit concerned!
It seems that one of her relatives has recently died in Poland and she has now responsible for paying off the money he owes....
Can anyone shed some light on this please?

tia

sx 

unforeseen

Heirs are liable for the deceased's debt, the girlfriend needs to find out more details. It is a joint & several liability.

https://wozniaklegal.com/en/news-and-insight/285/how-inheritance-works-in-poland.html

elsien

There’s not likely to be many on here with knowledge of the relevant Polish legislation. 

However Google does throw up some pages to show that someone accepting an inheritance may also accept liability for debt.
Presuming your son’s GF is Polish, she needs to check out the relevant inheritance laws. 

Amara

Polish law is different then british it is possible to inherit a debt. Girlfriend can reject an inheritance at all or take it "z dobrodziejstwem inwentarza", it means she'll only responsible to pay off debt to the value of estate. Either way, she doesn't have to pay 50000 euro.Did she actually accepted inheritance yet? Or just relative died with debt and now she's next to line to inherit?

Keep_pedalling

Some more info on this link.

https://www.dudkowiak.com/inheritance-in-poland/acceptance-or-rejection-of-inheritance-in-poland.html

Has she made a declaration of simple acceptance of inheritance? If not she does not owe the money. Even if she did, if she is a British citizen this is unlikely to be enforceable in the UK.

Edit  - This other link indicate that Polish law deans you have made a simple acceptance if you don’t declare otherwise within 6 months of learning of the death, which might be what has happened here. 

https://www.mondaq.com/wills-intestacy-estate-planning/610880/which-debts-of-the-deceased-may-be-inherited-by-the-heirs-according-to-polish-intestacy-rules

sparkiemalarkie

Thank you for your replies..... I think my sons girlfriend is 'getting help'.
My son mentioned it to me yesterday, as a casual comment, and I was really worried for her as it sounded so wrong....  so implausible.
Not knowing any details, I was worried that she was at risk of being scammed.
Having read a bit more it seems that it's not too unusual in Polish Law.
I now understand that she has a solicitor involved so I now feel confident that she is getting the advice she needs.
Thanks again

sx