ATTENTION! automatic translation from Polish
The provisions of the Civil Code concerning wills (in particular art. 959) require that the testator indicate who is to inherit after him – appoint one or more people to the inheritance. However, the prevailing view in case law is that it is possible to draw up a so-called negative will, which instead of appointing specific people to inherit (as a rule – in a manner other than that resulting from the law), excludes statutory heirs from inheritance. In practice, this means that the testator does not indicate in the will who will inherit after him, but only who of the people who would inherit after him in a situation in which the will was not drawn up is to be excluded from such inheritance.
Crucially, a negative will (contrary to the meaning in everyday language) does not mean disinheritance. Disinheritance is the term specified in art. 1008 of the Civil Code, an institution consisting in depriving the right to a reserved portion of a person who could normally claim it. Unlike disinheritance, exclusion from inheritance under a negative will does not require the fulfillment of any special conditions and may constitute an arbitrary, free decision of the testator.