POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Piotr Augustyniak, Nash Concept Ltd
conditions, can, in exceptional cases, be immediate, although it is exercised sparingly. For international families, the practically expeditious route is usually not naturalisation at all but confirma - tion of citizenship by descent, which recognises an existing status rather than conferring a new one and requires neither residence nor language. Its attraction for mobility purposes should, however, be weighed against the tax consequence noted in 1.4 Pre-Immi- gration and Exit Planning : Polish citizenship carries with it the citizenship-based scope of the inheritance and donation tax. 8. Planning for Minors, Adults with Disabilities and Elders 8.1 Special Planning Mechanisms There is no special-needs trust, and Polish succession law does not permit fideicommissary substitution: an attempt to appoint a subsequent heir after a prior heir is converted into an ordinary substitute appointment. Property left outright to a minor is administered by the parents under the supervision of the guardianship court, whose consent is required for acts exceeding ordinary management. This provides a protective but inflexible arrangement that planners generally seek to avoid for significant estates. The family foundation has filled the gap and is well suited to vulnerable beneficiaries: the statute may define benefits by reference to needs (maintenance, education, medical care), stagger entitlements by age or condition, withhold capital indefinitely, and func - tions independently of the beneficiary’s capacity. Complementary instruments include the vindicatory legacy for directing specific assets, the appointment of an executor to administer the estate during minor - ity, life insurance with structured payment, and tes - tamentary designation of a guardian of the testator’s choice for minor children. 8.2 Appointment of a Guardian Guardianship is judicial throughout. For a minor with - out parental authority, the guardianship court appoints and supervises a guardian; for an adult, protective measures presuppose incapacitation – full or partial –
declared by the regional court on medical evidence, followed by the appointment of a guardian or curator by the guardianship court. Parents may indicate a pre - ferred guardian, and courts respect such indications absent contrary interests of the ward, but no private appointment takes effect without the court. Supervision is ongoing: guardians report periodically, account for the ward’s property and must obtain the court’s consent for all major acts concerning person or property. The incapacitation model itself is sub - ject to sustained criticism, and its replacement by a system of graduated, supported decision-making has been under official discussion for years in response to Poland’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Planners should follow this reform process, but cannot yet rely on a replacement regime. 8.3 Planning for Incapacity Poland has no statutory lasting or enduring power of attorney, and this is the most significant gap in its pri - vate client toolkit. An ordinary power of attorney is not automatically extinguished by the principal’s factual loss of capacity, but its practical acceptance in that situation is uneven – banks in particular are cautious – and a subsequent judicial incapacitation places the ward’s affairs in the hands of a court-appointed guardian regardless of prior authorisations. Healthcare proxies and living wills likewise lack a statutory foot - ing, advance medical wishes having, at most, eviden - tial weight. A dedicated “protective power of attorney” has been the subject of reform proposals for many years without enactment. Practice compensates through structuring. Notarial powers of attorney are granted in favour of trusted family members while capacity is intact, drafted to survive factual incapacity and deposited with the notary; assets are moved into vehicles whose gov - ernance does not depend on the principal’s continu - ing capacity, above all the family foundation, whose statute can transfer the founder’s reserved powers to designated persons upon medically certified incapac - ity; and banking arrangements are organised through joint mandates and death-payment instructions. For internationally mobile clients, an enduring instrument validly created under a foreign law of habitual resi -
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