According to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw of 25 August 2009 (I ACa 445/09), all donations, i.e. pure donations, as well as donations combined with instruction or having the character of mixed agreements, are subject to addition to the inheritance pursuant to Article 993 of the Civil Code.
The term donation used by the legislator in Article 993 of the Civil Code also includes property rights acquired by a testamentary heir from the testator as a result of the contractual abolition of co-ownership without the obligation to repay. The civil law consequences of such a legal transaction are identical to those in the case of concluding a donation agreement for a share in co-ownership of real estate. The provision of Article 993 of the Civil Code is intended to protect the legitimate interests of the non-endowed statutory heirs.
The fact that A.T. established a personal easement in favour of H.D. does not prove that she was paid for the transfer of the property right to her. Pursuant to Article 302 § 2 of the Civil Code, the provisions on usufruct by natural persons apply to mutual relations between the person having a personal easement of a dwelling and the owner of the encumbered property. This means that the testator was obliged to maintain the property, bear public law burdens, preserve the substance of the thing and make repairs and expenditures related to the ordinary use of the thing (Civil Code Art. 258 and Art. 260 §1). The effects of the agreement on the abolition of co-ownership of the property and the agreement on the establishment of a personal easement resulted in A.T. obtaining the right of ownership of the entire property during H.D.’s lifetime, who retained possession of it until his death. However, this does not prove that the acquisition of the property right by the daughter was for consideration