According to Art. 1015 of the Civil Code, a declaration of acceptance or rejection of inheritance may be submitted within 6 months from the date on which the heir learned about the title of his appointment – about the death of the testator. Failure to make this declaration on time is tantamount to accepting the inheritance with the benefit of inventory. However, when the heir is a minor, it is necessary for the guardianship court to issue a permit to reject the inheritance by a statutory representative on behalf of the minor. Doubts may arise in a situation where an application has been submitted to the guardianship court within the six-month period, but the declaration of rejection of the inheritance itself after this period has expired.
In the decision of the Supreme Court of 28 May 2015 (III CSK 352/14) it was stated that the time limit specified in Art. 1015 § 1 of the Civil Code is a strict deadline and after it expires, the heir’s right to submit a declaration of acceptance or rejection of the inheritance expires. It was emphasized that the introduction of such a short deadline is dictated by the need to quickly establish the circle of heirs in the interests of themselves and of the creditors of the estate. However, these considerations cannot obscure the need to protect the interests of the heirs of minors. Contrary to heirs with full legal capacity, they experience significant limitations in the possibility of free rejection of inheritance in the form of the obligation to obtain the court’s consent to reject the inheritance.
The Supreme Court stated that in a situation where the law requires the consent of the court which makes effective rejection of the inheritance conditional, the application by the legal representative of the heir to the guardianship court for it before the deadline for submitting the declaration of rejection of the inheritance causes the period to be interrupted. Therefore, Art. 123 § 1 point 1 of the Civil Code by analogy.
It should be remembered that the condition for the application of the indicated provisions is that the minor’s representative must exercise due diligence by submitting an application to the guardianship court no later than within the time limit specified in art. 1015 § 1 of the Civil Code
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