Polish legal terms explained in plain English

Citizenship and documents

Akt notarialnyNotarial deed

A document drawn up by a Polish notary, not merely a signature certified by one. Polish law requires this form for transfers of real estate and for agreements dividing an estate that contains real estate. Explained in: How do you sign a power of attorney in the U.S. for a matter in Poland?

Apostille

A certificate attached to a public document by an authority of the country where the document was made. It confirms the signature and the capacity of the person who signed, so that another country accepts the document without consular legalization. Explained in: How do you sign a power of attorney in the U.S. for a matter in Poland?

Nadanie obywatelstwaGrant of citizenship

A decision of the President of Poland, taken in the form of a postanowienie, which gives Polish citizenship to a foreigner. It is discretionary: the Act does not list conditions the President has to apply. Explained in: When is Polish citizenship granted by the President?

Obowiązek obrony OjczyznyThe obligation to defend the homeland

The general duty of Polish citizens who are fit for it by age and health. Under the Act it includes military service, mobilization assignments, service in militarized units, and defense-related duties. Explained in: Does Polish citizenship mean military service for an American?

PełnomocnictwoPower of attorney

The document by which you authorize someone to act in your name. In a Polish matter it is what an attorney files with the court, the registry office, or the tax office to show that they act for you. Explained in: How do you sign a power of attorney in the U.S. for a matter in Poland?

Potwierdzenie posiadania obywatelstwa polskiegoConfirmation of Polish citizenship

An administrative proceeding before a provincial governor that ends in a decision stating that a person is, or is not, a Polish citizen. The authority grants nothing new; it examines the family history against the law in force at each relevant date. The effect runs backwards: if the decision is positive, you were a citizen all along. Explained in: Do you already hold Polish citizenship through a grandparent?

Przywrócenie obywatelstwaRestoration of citizenship

A separate procedure from confirmation, for people who once held Polish citizenship and lost it. It restores citizenship on application instead of confirming that it continued. Explained in: Which Polish citizenship law applies to your ancestor?

Transkrypcja aktu stanu cywilnegoTranscription of a civil-status record

Entering a foreign birth, marriage, or death record into the Polish civil-status registers. This produces a Polish copy of the record - the document that Polish offices, courts, and notaries actually work with. An American record on its own, even with an apostille and a translation, is not always accepted for every step. Explained in: Do you already hold Polish citizenship through a grandparent?

WojewodaThe voivode

The central government's representative in a Polish region, roughly comparable to a state-level authority. The voivode issues the citizenship decision - not a court, and not the consulate. Explained in: Polish citizenship isn't given. It's confirmed - and you may already have it.

Zezwolenie na zmianę obywatelstwaPermission to change citizenship

A decision of the Polish authorities that, under the 1951 and 1962 Acts, a Polish citizen needed before taking another country's citizenship. Permission granted to parents also covered children under their parental authority. Explained in: Which Polish citizenship law applies to your ancestor?

Inheritance

Akt poświadczenia dziedziczeniaNotarial deed of certification of succession

Prepared by a Polish notary and usually much faster than court. Its constraint is decisive for families spread across countries: an heir gives the statements for the succession protocol in person, after being cautioned about criminal liability, and a representative cannot do it for them. They do not all have to attend at once, though: the notary can draw up a draft protocol, and each interested person then confirms it before the same or another notary. That is still a visit to a Polish notary, not a signature before an American notary public. The route is also unavailable where the succession is contested. Explained in: An inheritance in Poland while you live abroad

ZachowekReserved share

A monetary claim belonging to certain close relatives of the person who died. It does not make you an heir, and it does not give you a right to any particular asset. You cannot use it to claim the family house. What it gives you is a claim against the people who did inherit, for payment of a sum of money. Explained in: Reserved share claims under Polish law

Czynność przekraczająca zakres zwykłego zarząduAn act exceeding ordinary management

An act concerning a child's property that goes beyond day-to-day administration and therefore needs a court's approval. Accepting or rejecting an inheritance belongs here, because it decides what the child gains or gives up. The parents' own view of what is best for the child does not replace the permission. Explained in: How do you reject a Polish inheritance for your child?

Dział spadkuDivision of the estate

The step that ends joint ownership among the heirs and gives specific assets to specific people. Until it happens, the heirs own the estate together, each in a fraction. Explained in: Can a U.S. probate court divide a house in Poland?

Podatek od spadków i darowiznInheritance and gift tax

A Polish tax on receiving property by inheritance or gift. It is paid by each heir, not by the estate, and it is separate from the income tax that may arise later if you sell what you inherited. Explained in: Do you owe Polish inheritance tax if you live in the United States?

Podpis urzędowo poświadczonyAn officially certified signature

A signature whose authenticity has been confirmed by an authority that Polish law recognizes for the purpose - a Polish notary, or a Polish consul. It is more than the notarization an American notary public performs on a routine document, which is why the form of the signature, and not the wording of the declaration, is usually what decides whether a Polish court accepts the paper. Explained in: How do you reject a Polish inheritance for your child?

Przyjęcie spadku z dobrodziejstwem inwentarzaAcceptance with the benefit of inventory

A way of accepting an inheritance in which the heir answers for the estate's debts only up to the value of its assets. It is what happens automatically to an heir who makes no declaration in time. Explained in: Can you inherit debts along with a house in Poland?

SpadekThe estate

All of the property rights and obligations of the person who died: ownership of real estate and possessions, money in accounts, shares in companies, but also loans, mortgages, and arrears. Strictly personal entitlements, such as a right to a pension or to maintenance payments, do not pass to the heirs. Explained in: How do you settle an inheritance in Poland without traveling?

Statut spadkowyThe law governing the succession

The legal system that decides who inherits, in what shares, and what claims close family members have against the heirs. It is not automatically the law of the country where the property is located. Explained in: Is a will signed in the United States valid for property in Poland?

Stwierdzenie nabycia spadkuCourt confirmation of acquisition of inheritance

A court decision naming the heirs and their shares. It can be conducted through a representative, so heirs abroad generally do not need to attend. It is the route used when heirs cannot easily gather in one place, when someone cannot be located, or when the succession is disputed. Explained in: An inheritance in Poland while you live abroad

Zezwolenie sądu opiekuńczegoPermission of the guardianship court

A decision of the family division of a Polish district court allowing a parent to perform a named act for a child. In these cases it is applied for on a specific estate, not in general, and the court assesses whether rejecting it serves the child's interest. Where the succession case is already pending, the same permission is issued by the succession court instead. Explained in: How do you reject a Polish inheritance for your child?

Real estate

Księga wieczystaThe land and mortgage register

A public register kept by a court, opened separately for each property. It records what the property is, who owns it, what rights other people hold over it, and whether there is a mortgage. The closest American equivalent is a county land register - except that an entry in the Polish register is presumed to be true and protects anyone who relies on it in good faith. Explained in: How do you sell or regularize Polish property from abroad?

Zezwolenie na nabycie nieruchomościPermit to acquire real estate

A decision of the Minister of the Interior and Administration under the Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners, passed in 1920 and amended many times since. “Acquire” means becoming the owner in any way: by purchase, gift, inheritance, or court decision. Explained in: Do Americans need a permit to own property in Poland?

Zniesienie współwłasnościEnding co-ownership

A proceeding that terminates shared ownership of a single thing. It can be done by agreement before a notary when everyone consents, or through a court when they do not. Either way the result is a clear ownership position and the ability to deal with the property independently. Explained in: How do you sell or regularize Polish property from abroad?

Family matters

Miejsce zwykłego pobytuHabitual residence

The place where a person's life is actually centered: where they live, work, go to school, see a doctor, and have friends. It is not the same as a registered address, and not the same as citizenship. In cases concerning children, this is normally the point that decides which court is competent. Explained in: Will a Polish court decide your family case while you live in the U.S.?

Stwierdzenie nieważności małżeństwaDeclaration of marriage nullity

A sentence of a church tribunal stating that, despite the ceremony, a sacramental marriage never came into being - because of an impediment, a defect in matrimonial consent, or the absence of the required form. The effect is confined to the church's own order: it opens the way to marrying in the Church again. Explained in: Can your church marriage be declared null under canon law?

Wspólność majątkowa małżeńskaCommunity of marital property

A regime that arises automatically on marriage. It covers assets acquired during the marriage by both spouses or by either of them. It ends on divorce, on the establishment of separate estates, or on the death of a spouse - and only then can the estate be divided. Explained in: How is Polish property divided after a divorce abroad?

Wzmianka dodatkowaAn annotation to a civil-status record

An entry added to an existing Polish record, such as a marriage record, to show a later change. A divorce appears in the Polish registry in this form, and a copy of the marriage record then shows that the marriage was dissolved. Explained in: Is an American divorce valid in Poland?

Business

Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów RzeczywistychThe register of beneficial owners

A public register of the people who ultimately control a company. A limited liability company has to report them within 14 days of its entry in the National Court Register (Anti-Money Laundering Act, Articles 58(4) and 60(1)(1)). The filing is made by a person authorized by law to represent the company and signed with a qualified electronic signature or a trusted profile - a lawyer cannot make it on your behalf (Article 61(1) and (4)). Failure to file on time carries a fine of up to 1,000,000 zł (Article 153(1)). Explained in: Can you set up a Polish company without flying to Poland?

Kapitał zakładowyShare capital

The amount stated in the company agreement and divided into shares. It must be at least 5,000 zł, and no share may have a nominal value below 50 zł (Article 154 § 1 and § 2). It is not a deposit frozen in a bank account: the money is contributed to the company and the company then spends it on its own business. Explained in: Can you set up a Polish company without flying to Poland?

Krajowy Rejestr SądowyThe National Court Register

The court register in which Polish companies are entered, kept by the registry courts. Entry is what turns a company in organization into a company with legal personality, and the entry data are public - anyone dealing with your company can read who its board members are and who holds the shares. Explained in: Can you set up a Polish company without flying to Poland?

Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnościąLimited liability company

The most widely used corporate form in Poland. It has legal personality, its own assets, and answers for its own debts. Shareholders are not liable for the company's debts out of their personal assets - unlike members of the management board, who in defined situations can be personally liable, for example where they fail to file for insolvency in time. Explained in: How do you start or buy a company in Poland from the U.S.?

Wzorzec umowyThe template agreement

A standard company agreement made available in the court's ICT system, completed on screen and signed electronically. Its wording cannot be changed, so anything the founders want to arrange differently - how shares are sold, how the board decides - has to wait for a later amendment made before a notary. Explained in: Can you set up a Polish company without flying to Poland?

Pensions

Umowa o zabezpieczeniu społecznym między Polską a USAThe Poland-United States social security agreement

An international agreement under which insurance periods completed in one country can be taken into account when establishing entitlement in the other. It solves the classic emigrant's problem: twenty years of contributions in Poland and twenty in the United States, and not enough in either to qualify. What it does not do is make one country pay for periods completed in the other - each determines and pays its own benefit. Explained in: Are you owed a Polish pension for work before emigrating?

Claims and compensation

Następstwo prawneLegal succession

Stepping into the rights of a person who has died. In cases about compensation for repression it is not ordinary inheritance of property: the right to claim redress belongs to the people identified by statute, not to every heir. Establishing who can file today is one of the first steps in the matter. Explained in: Can the family of someone interned or imprisoned claim compensation?

Odszkodowanie i zadośćuczynienieCompensation and redress

Two separate claims heard together. Compensation covers measurable loss, such as earnings lost through imprisonment or property that was taken. Redress covers the harm itself: the imprisonment, the interrogation, the health ruined. Polish law sets no ceiling on either in these cases - the provision that once capped the amount lost force on March 10, 2011 under the Constitutional Tribunal judgment of March 1, 2011 (P 21/09). Explained in: Can a grandchild in the U.S. clear a repressed grandfather’s name?

PrzedawnienieLimitation of claims

The passage of time after which a debtor can validly refuse to pay by relying on that lapse alone. The claim still exists, but it becomes unenforceable. The periods depend on the type of claim - they differ between business debts and a loan between private individuals - and the running of a period can be interrupted, for instance by an acknowledgment of the debt or by filing suit. Explained in: How do you recover money owed in Poland from the U.S.?

Stwierdzenie nieważności orzeczeniaDeclaration of nullity of a ruling

A decision of a Polish court stating that a conviction, sentence or other ruling from the years 1944 to 1989 was void from the beginning. It is not a pardon and not an expungement: in law the person is treated as acquitted, and the court that issues it instructs the entitled persons about the right to claim compensation (Article 6). Explained in: Can a grandchild in the U.S. clear a repressed grandfather’s name?

Sąd okręgowyThe regional court

The higher of the two levels of Polish courts of first instance. It handles the more serious criminal cases and the higher-value civil ones, and it is the court named in this Act for both the annulment and the compensation claim. There is no American equivalent that maps exactly; in practical terms it sits above the district court that handles everyday matters. Explained in: Can a grandchild in the U.S. clear a repressed grandfather’s name?

The explanations here are general information about Polish law, not legal advice about your situation. Each entry links to the guide it comes from, where the legal basis is named.