Abstract

The article discusses possible amendments that should be made to Polish succession law and reflects on the suitable shape of this law in the future. The analysis is focused on the following key notions (elements) of succession law: the decedent, the beneficiary (the heir), the estate, and the will (other issues are only briefly mentioned, such the legitim, liability for the deceased’s debts, mortis causa donations, and the distributive will). There are four main conclusions as proposals for further consideration with regard to: the estate (regulation of inheritance of the new type of property, namely virtual property, and international estates), the beneficiaries and heirs (allowing inheritance by artificial intelligence), application of succession law rules per analogiam (e.g. to protected witnesses), the law on wills (amendment of the regulation concerning the forms of wills).