Persuading to Commit or Assisting in the Testator/Decedent’s Suicide in the Context of the Grounds for Unworthiness of Inheritance
Persuading to Commit or Assisting in the Testator/Decedent’s Suicide in the Context of the Grounds for Unworthiness of Inheritance

Summary/Abstract: The article contains a discussion of a criminal-law and civil-law nature in the context of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Krakow of 20 May 2014 (I ACa 357/14, Legalis no. 1171941). Essential to settle a case of unworthiness of inheritance were the findings made in the criminal case for committing an act under Article 151 of the Polish Penal Code (PC) regarding whether the behaviour of a man who subsequently committed suicide can be considered as assisting his mother in committing suicide. The crucial issue here was the analysis of the mental state of the “perpetrator” and his motivation in the context of the implementation of the conditions of insanity or sanity limited to a significant extent (Article 31 §§ 1 and 2 PC). A judgment upholding an action for the man’s unworthiness of inheritance, assuming that the defendant in these proceedings assisted his mother to commit suicide, could be made only if he were able to be pleaded guilty. Otherwise, namely in the case of declaration of his insanity at the time of committing the act, it would be pointless for the civil court to assess the crime of assisting suicide (Article 151 PC) from the point of view of its severity within the meaning of Article 928 § 1 (1) of the Polish Civil Code.

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