The Provincial Administrative Court in Szczecin, by judgment of December 10, 2025 (file ref. I SA/Sz 525/25), overturned the decisions of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), which had attempted to enforce the full amount of overdue contributions from the heiress, ignoring the existence of a mortgage debt encumbering the estate.
The case involved a woman who accepted the inheritance with benefit of inventory. This means her liability for the debts of her deceased mother is limited to the value of the so-called active estate (assets). The key issue was that the only estate asset was a share in real property burdened with a bank mortgage. According to the complainant, the debt to the bank fully exhausted the value of the inherited share.
In its reasoning, the Court emphasized that the heir is obligated to pay claims in the order specified in Article 1025 of the Code of Civil Procedure. When the estate assets are insufficient to satisfy all claims in full, claims in the same category should be proportionally reduced, pursuant to Article 1026 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Consequently, if the only estate asset is a share in real property secured by a mortgage, the bank has priority satisfaction. Since the mortgage loan taken out by the deceased „consumes” the entire value of the share, no funds remain in the estate from which other claims (including ZUS contributions) can be effectively enforced.
This judgment confirms the fundamental principle that if the estate is insufficient to cover all debts, repayments must be made according to the statutory hierarchy of creditors. The ruling protects heirs from unlawful coercion to pay inherited debts from their personal assets when their liability limit has already been exhausted by higher-priority creditors.