Guide · Inheritance
How do I find and withdraw money from my late parent's bank account in Poland?
By Mikołaj Badziąg, Advocate
A death certificate alone is not enough for a Polish bank to pay an heir. One search shows every account the deceased had. Two payments need no court order, and everything else waits until the inheritance is confirmed in Poland.
Start by finding the accounts. Any bank or credit union in Poland can run a Central Account Information search for an heir (Banking Law, Article 92ba). Then you have to prove that you are an heir, with a final court order confirming the inheritance or a registered notarial deed of succession (Civil Code, Articles 1025 and 1027). Until you have one of them, the bank will pay only funeral costs and amounts covered by a payable-on-death instruction.
Central Account Information. A service that KIR, the national clearing house, runs for Polish banks. When an heir asks, it checks every bank and credit union in Poland and shows where the deceased had accounts, including accounts closed by the death.
What happens to the account when the holder dies?
A personal account agreement ends on the day the holder dies (Banking Law, Article 59a(1)). The money stays at the bank. Until the bank pays it to someone with legal title to it, the agreement is treated as still binding (Article 59a(4)), and nobody can use the account except a co-holder of a joint account.
Joint accounts have their own rules. Unless the agreement says otherwise, each co-holder can use the money and close the account alone (Article 51a). The provisions on termination at death, funeral costs and payable-on-death instructions do not apply to joint accounts (Article 57).
How do you find accounts you do not know about?
Anyone with legal title to the estate can ask a bank or credit union in Poland for the search (Article 92ba(1)). You make the request in writing and the bank checks your title. Each institution then has three business days to answer (Articles 92bc and 92bd). The report gives the institutions and account numbers, joint accounts included, but no balances (Article 92ba(2)).
The bank sets its own fee for the search, and the law caps it at the cost of producing the information (Article 92bc(2)). Only bank and credit union accounts are covered, so investment funds, brokerage accounts and insurance policies have to be traced separately.
What can the bank pay out without a court order?
Two payments do not wait for the inheritance to be confirmed. Neither is part of the estate:
- Funeral costs. Whoever paid for the funeral gets the money back from the bank on presenting the bills, up to the cost customary in the community (Article 55). That person does not have to be an heir.
- A payable-on-death instruction. An account holder can tell the bank in writing to pay a set amount after death to a spouse, parents or grandparents, children or grandchildren, or siblings. The total cannot exceed twenty times the average monthly salary in the enterprise sector for the month before the death (Article 56). Once the bank learns of the death, it has to notify the people named (Article 56a).
Payable-on-death instruction. A written instruction in which the account holder tells the bank to pay a named close relative after the holder's death. The money is paid outside the inheritance and outside the inheritance proceedings.
What does the bank need to pay the heirs?
Everything beyond those two payments is part of the estate. Against a bank, an heir can prove their rights only with a court order confirming the inheritance or a registered notarial deed of succession (Civil Code, Article 1027). A U.S. probate order or letters testamentary will not do. The inheritance has to be confirmed in Poland, and our guide to an inheritance in Poland while you live abroad explains both routes.
With several heirs, the account belongs to all of them in shares until the estate is divided (Articles 1035 and 1036), and each bank handles that its own way. In June 2026, UOKiK, the Polish competition and consumer authority, called on banks to simplify their procedures. The complaints it had received included long delays after the documents were filed and demands that all heirs appear in person at the same place and time.
A father in Gdańsk dies, leaving an account and a payable-on-death instruction for his daughter in Chicago. The bank notifies her and pays the instruction amount without waiting for a court order. The rest of the balance stays in the account until she and her brother confirm the inheritance and present the court order.
Key points
- When the holder dies, a personal account agreement ends and the money waits at the bank for whoever has legal title to it.
- One request at any bank or credit union in Poland searches all institutions for the deceased's accounts. Each answers within three business days.
- Funeral costs and payable-on-death amounts are paid without a court order and outside the estate.
- For the rest, you need a Polish court order or a registered notarial deed of succession.
- The bank reports payments to the tax office. Close family keep the tax exemption only if they file SD-Z2.
Do you pay tax on money from a late parent's Polish account?
Money in a Polish bank account counts as inheritance located in Poland, and so do payable-on-death amounts (Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, Article 1). Close family pay nothing if they file form SD-Z2 within six months (Article 4a); our guide to Polish inheritance tax explains how. The bank does not ask for a tax office certificate before paying, but it must report each payment to the tax office within 14 days (Article 19(1)). The tax office will know about the money whether or not you file SD-Z2.
Can you do this from the United States?
Mostly, yes. The search request is filed at a bank or credit union in Poland, and the Banking Law does not say the heir has to file it in person. Ask the bank whether it will accept the request from an attorney in Poland acting under a power of attorney. Getting the money to a U.S. account is an ordinary bank transfer. Amounts above the equivalent of EUR 15,000 must go through a bank or payment institution (Foreign Exchange Law, Article 25).
How we help
We confirm the inheritance in Poland, request the account search and, under a power of attorney, deal with each bank until the money reaches your account in the United States. We also file SD-Z2 so that close family keep the tax exemption.
Sources
This article is based on the acts listed below. Each link opens the text published by the Polish government, checked on September 20, 2026. Acts in force open as a consolidated text; historical acts are marked as such, with the date they stopped applying.
- Banking Lawconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 38
- Civil Codeconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 795
- Inheritance and Gift Tax Actconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 478
- Foreign Exchange Lawconsolidated text, Journal of Laws 2024 item 1131
This article gives general information about Polish law and is not legal advice on your situation. Legal basis: the Banking Law of August 29, 1997 (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 38, as amended), Articles 51, 51a, 55, 56, 56a, 57, 59a and 92ba to 92bd; the Civil Code (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 795), Articles 1025, 1027, 1035 and 1036; the Inheritance and Gift Tax Act (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2026 item 478), Articles 1, 4a and 19; the Foreign Exchange Law (consolidated text, Journal of Laws 2024 item 1131), Article 25. Information on the account search comes from KIR, and on banks' practice from the UOKiK statement of June 15, 2026. If you would like to know how this applies to you, describe your situation.
Next step
Get the money released
Send the date of death and whatever you know about the accounts. The first inquiry is free, and before any paid work begins we will tell you whether we can help.
Tell us about your matter