Some things only you can arrange, and only while you are alive. If you do them, the people close to you will not spend weeks hunting for documents or going from court to court at a hard time. This chapter covers what to prepare and where to keep it.

Will

• The safest option is a notarial will (max. fee 50 zł net, 150 zł with an ordinary legacy or disinheritance, 200 zł with a vindication legacy, plus VAT). The original stays at the notary's office.
• A handwritten will must be written entirely by hand, signed and dated. You can deposit it with a notary (an acceptance fee plus 20 zł net per month).
• Ask the notary to enter it in the NORT (Notarial Register of Wills). The register does not reveal the content, only the location, so your family will find it quickly.
• Do not keep the will only in a bank safe deposit box. The bank opens the box for heirs only after they have an inheritance document, and that document requires the will.
• In your will you can name a guardian for your children. The court considers the person named by the parent first.
• Note in the folder: where the original is, the notary's details, whether the will is in NORT, who the executor is and whether they agreed.

Money that bypasses the estate

This money reaches the people you name quickly, without waiting for the inheritance case:

• Payable-on-death instruction (dyspozycja wkładem na wypadek śmierci) at each bank: for your spouse, parents, children or siblings. The limit is 20 times the average wage (for a death in September 2026: 185 190,80 zł), separately at each bank. You can change the instruction at any time.
• Investment funds (TFI): a similar instruction, same limit.
• IKE and IKZE (individual retirement accounts): name beneficiaries in the agreement. Otherwise the money becomes part of the estate.
• PPK (employee capital plan): name beneficiaries on the website of the institution running your PPK.
• PPE (employee pension scheme) and OFE (open pension fund): check the nomination in the enrolment form or with your employer or the fund.
• Life insurance, including group cover at work and policies attached to loans: name beneficiaries and check every few years that the nominations are up to date.

Joint account

The co-holder of a joint account can keep using it after your death and while you are ill. Your share will still become part of the estate. Someone holding a power of attorney over your individual account loses it at the moment of your death.

List of assets and liabilities

This is the most valuable part of the folder. Write down:

• banks, accounts, deposits, SKOKs (credit unions), funds, bonds, brokerage accounts, IKE, IKZE, PPK,
• policies: insurer, number, beneficiaries,
• loans, credit, credit cards, co-borrowers, insurance attached to loans,
• property: addresses, księga wieczysta (land register) numbers, where the notarial deeds are, when you acquired it (this matters for tax on a later sale),
• cars, leases, subscriptions, domains, crypto (only instructions on where access is kept, never the seed itself).

From time to time add your own BIK and KRD (credit bureau and debt register) reports. Your family will judge faster whether to accept the inheritance.

Powers of attorney for times of illness

A power of attorney does not end when you lose consciousness, but it does end at your death. You can only grant one while fully aware, so do it in advance:

• general notarial power of attorney covering matters beyond ordinary management (the original copy stays with the attorney),
• account powers of attorney on each bank's forms,
• ZUS (Social Insurance Institution): form PEL,
• tax office: PPO-1 and UPL-1 in e-Urząd Skarbowy (online tax office, free of charge),
• post office: postal power of attorney at a branch,
• health: authorisation to receive information and medical records at your clinic and hospital and in the IKP (Online Patient Account).

If you live with a partner without being married, they have none of these rights by law. They need powers of attorney and authorisations from you.

Business

• For a sole proprietorship, appoint a zarządca sukcesyjny (succession manager) in writing and enter them in CEIDG (business register). Without this, on the day of your death the business, its account and contracts stop, and your family has only 2 months to appoint a manager before a notary. You can also specify that your prokurent will become the manager.
• The succession manager acts only after death. For times of illness you need a prokura (commercial power of attorney, entered in CEIDG) or an attorney. A prokura does not end when you lose capacity.
• Give your accountant powers of attorney in the online tax office and permissions in KSeF (national e-invoicing system).
• For a company, keep the current articles of association and contacts for the board, attorneys and accountant in the folder.

Digital matters

• Set up the providers' tools: Inactive Account Manager at Google, Legacy Contact at Apple, legacy contact on Facebook. Large platforms do not hand passwords to heirs.
• In your password manager, set up emergency access for a trusted person, or print the emergency kit and keep it in a safe.
• Log in now and then to mailboxes that close inactive accounts (for example WP deletes an account after 180 days without login, Microsoft freezes it after a year).

What to put in the paper folder

• where the will is, plus a copy or certified copy,
• copies of powers of attorney and a list of who holds them,
• the list of assets and liabilities,
• funeral wishes, the document giving the right to the family grave, information on a funeral policy, the list of people to notify,
• organ donation: if you do not want to be a donor, register an objection in the Centralny Rejestr Sprzeciwów (Central Register of Objections),
• contacts: notary, accountant, adviser, doctor, the person who will look after your pet (with their consent).

Do not put logins, passwords, card PINs or a crypto recovery phrase in the paper folder. Anyone who finds the folder can read it.

Review once a year

Pick a fixed day, such as your birthday. Check: is the will up to date, do the bank instructions and the beneficiaries of your policies, IKE, IKZE and PPK still fit (after a marriage, divorce, birth of a child, death of someone close), are the attorneys the same, is the list of accounts complete, and does your family know where the folder is.

This is information, not legal advice; the law is stated as of 4 October 2026.