Establishing a Bank Bequest in Favour of a Person Entitled to a Legitim

The distinctive nature of the right to a legitim, which is conferred exclusively upon the descendants, spouse, and parents of the deceased, calls for the adoption of normative frameworks that serve as a robust guarantee of its effective enforcement. Within this context, certain provisions of the Polish Civil Code give rise to interpretative concerns, particularly those regulating the calculation of the legitim, the determination of the quantum of claims held by specific beneficiaries, as well as the principles and scope of debt liability arising from such entitlements. These provisions impose an obligation, subject to the statutory conditions, to take account of inter vivos gifts made by the deceased in each of the aforementioned scenarios. While such a legislative approach should, in principle, be regarded as entirely justified, the legislator’s use of the term “gift” does not provide a clear answer as to whether, in the situations in question, other gratuitous legal transactions, distinct from a gift in the sense of a named contract under the Civil Code, should be interpreted as having the same legal effect, from the perspective of persons entitled to a legitim, as a gift made by the deceased. The ratio legis of the legitim and the ratio of inclusion of gifts in its calculation leads to the conclusion that the term employed by the legislator must be interpreted broadly. Accordingly, within the provisions on the legitim, the term “gift” should be understood as encompassing all deliberate legal acts (transactions) of the deceased which unilaterally confer a benefit upon another party at the expense of the deceased’s estate, thereby resulting in a diminution of the estate’s value. It should therefore be beyond doubt that, for the purposes of Articles 993 and 995 of the Civil Code, the term “gift” also encompasses, inter alia, an instruction for transfer of a bank deposit mortis causa. It also appears to be beyond doubt that the provisions of the Civil Code allowing for the sanctioning of unlawful conduct by heirs or legatees, particularly actions directed against the deceased, should apply to the beneficiary of an instruction for transfer of a bank deposit mortis causa, where such conduct results in the forfeiture of benefits obtained from the estate or as a consequence of the deceased’s death.