Act on succession management of a single proprietorship : key issues from the perspective of the contractual counterparties of the entrepreneur

Bibliogr. s. 152-154. Streszcz. ang. s. 154

The Act of 5 July 2018 on succession management of a single proprietorship introduces certain important changes in functioning of an enterprise of a deceased entrepreneur, with many of them being of great importance for the contracting partners of the deceased. Certain changes introduced by the said Act apply not only when the entrepreneur or his successors decide to appoint a succession manager, but in every case in which an entrepreneur dies and leaves his enterprise. According to the new regulation each party to a contract concluded by a deceased entrepreneur has right to withhold its performance until a succession manager is appointed. The author analyses the scope of this right. Moreover, the Act on succession management stipulates that the deadlines to make a performance do not commence and, if commenced, are suspended as at the moment of the entrepreneurs death. The same rule applies to the deadlines prescribed to perform a contractual obligation or to exercise a contractual right. The article discusses the types of the deadlines being covered by this regulation and the questionable application of this regulation to the period of limitation of claims, as well as the deadlines to exercise statutory rights. Furthermore, the article deals with the issue of the preservation actions concerning the enterprise which may be performed in the period between the entrepreneurs death and the appointment of the succession manager, as well as the question of liability for obligations which arose by performing of such preservation actions.