Is a will signed in the United States valid for property in Poland?

As to its form, usually yes. Poland applies the 1961 Hague Convention on the form of wills, under which a will is formally valid if it meets the requirements of, among other options, the place where it was signed. Which inheritance law governs the estate is a separate question. For deaths since August 17, 2015, the EU Succession Regulation generally points to the law of the country where the person habitually lived at death, unless they chose the law of their nationality in the will.

Is a will made in the United States valid in Poland?

As to its form, in most cases it is. The EU Succession Regulation lets countries that are party to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, keep applying it to the formal validity of wills, and Poland is one of them (Regulation, Article 75(1)).

Under Article 1 of the Convention, a will is valid in form if it complies with the internal law of any one of these: the place where it was made; a country whose nationality the testator held; the place of the testator's domicile or habitual residence, in each case when the will was made or at death; and, for real estate, the place where the property is located. The Convention applies even when the people involved are not nationals of a party state (Article 6). A will properly executed under the law of the U.S. state where it was signed therefore meets the test in Poland.

Form is only the first hurdle. Whether the content of the will takes full effect, for example whether a child left out of it can still claim a reserved share, is decided by the law that governs the succession.

Which country's law governs the estate?

For people who died on or after August 17, 2015 (Regulation, Article 83(1)), the general rule is the law of the country where the person had their habitual residence at the time of death (Article 21(1)). The rule applies even when that country is outside the EU, such as the United States (Article 20). Only where the person was manifestly more closely connected with another country does that country's law apply instead (Article 21(2)).

The United States has separate inheritance laws in each state, so U.S. rules decide which state's law is meant (Article 36). One more step matters for property in Poland. When the Regulation points to the law of a non-EU country, that country's conflict-of-laws rules are also applied if they refer back to the law of an EU member state (Article 34(1)). If the rules of the U.S. state concerned send questions about Polish real estate to Polish law, Polish law can end up governing that property. Whether they do is a question of U.S. law, which is best checked together with the family's U.S. attorney.

Can a will choose Polish law?

Yes, for a Polish citizen. Anyone may choose, in a will, the law of a country whose nationality they hold when making the choice or at death, and a person with several nationalities may choose any of them (Article 22(1)). A dual U.S. and Polish citizen can therefore choose Polish law, or U.S. law, for the whole estate. The choice has to be made expressly or follow clearly from the terms of the will (Article 22(2)).

Wills made before August 17, 2015, benefit from a transitional rule: if such a will was made under a law the person could have chosen, that law is treated as chosen (Article 83(4)).

What if the person died before August 17, 2015?

Then the Regulation does not apply, and the Polish conflict-of-laws rules in force at the time are the starting point. The 1965 Private International Law Act referred inheritance matters to the law of the deceased's nationality at death (Article 34). The 2011 Act, in force from May 2011, did the same unless the person had chosen another law in a will (Article 64). For a grandparent who died as a Polish citizen, that usually means Polish law.

How is a U.S. will used in Poland?

The will is submitted, translated into Polish, in the Polish inheritance proceedings, and a Polish court or notary confirms who inherited. A U.S. document that only appoints an executor does not by itself state who owns the property in Poland. What a U.S. probate court can and cannot decide about a Polish house is explained in our guide on U.S. probate and property in Poland.

How we help

We assess whether a U.S. will is valid in Poland, identify which law governs the estate, and carry the Polish proceedings through under a power of attorney. For people planning ahead, we explain what a choice of Polish law in a will would change.

This article is general information about Polish law and EU law applied in Poland, not legal advice about your situation, and it does not describe the law of any U.S. state. Legal basis: Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 on succession, Articles 20, 21, 22, 34, 36, 75 and 83; the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 on the Conflicts of Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions (Journal of Laws 1969 No 34 item 284), Articles 1 and 6; the Private International Law Act of November 12, 1965, Article 34; the Private International Law Act of February 4, 2011, Article 64 in its original wording (Journal of Laws 2011 No 80 item 432) and Article 66a in the current consolidated text (Journal of Laws 2023 item 503). If you would like to know how this applies to you, describe your situation.