It happens that court rulings include definitions of legal concepts. They then allow for unifying the understanding of legal norms and, consequently, limiting discrepancies in jurisprudence.
In the judgment of 20 December 2018, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw (VI ACa 1108/17) decided, on the one hand, to define the right to a reserved share, and on the other, indicated the possibility of having the right to a reserved share with the simultaneous lack of a claim for payment of the amount of the reserved share.
The justification for the judgment reads: „In the literature on the subject, it is pointed out that the right to a reserved share is something else than a claim for payment of the amount of money needed to cover or supplement the reserved share. Various rights flow from the right to a reserved share. A claim for payment of the amount of money needed to cover or supplement the reserved share is one of these rights, but not the only one. The right to a reserved share is also manifested in the limitation of liability for certain debts (Articles 998, 999 of the Civil Code) and the change in the nature of the ordinary legacy (Article 998 § 2 of the Civil Code), as well as, indirectly, in the priority of satisfying the entitled party over the ordinary legatee. Therefore, the right to a reserved share is not exhausted in the claim for a reserved share and cannot be equated with it. This right is exercised after the death of the testator in the powers of persons close to the testator listed in art. 991 § 1 k.c. in relation to heirs, debt collection legatees and endowed legatees, but also partly ordinary legatees and beneficiaries of instructions and other persons entitled to a reserved share
According to Art. 991 § 2 of the Civil Code, if the beneficiary has not received the reserved share due to him, either in the form of a donation made by the testator, or in the form of an inheritance appointment, or in the form of a legacy, he is entitled to a claim against the heir for the payment of a sum of money needed to cover the reserved share or to supplement it. However, if the entitled person is appointed to inherit, his right to a reserved portion is exercised in a completely different way, e.g. by limiting liability for certain debts (Articles 998, 999 of the Civil Code). If the person entitled to the reserved share is an ordinary legatee, his right to the reserved share is manifested, among others, in the following: in that an ordinary legacy in his favor is treated as unconditional and unlimited in time up to the amount of the reserved share (Article 998 § 2 of the Civil Code).
As a consequence, in the opinion of the Court of Appeal, it follows from these provisions that one may be entitled to a reserved share and not have a claim for payment of a sum of money in respect of the reserved share or to supplement the reserved share).„