Practice Areas
Inheritance Law Advisory
Legal support is provided throughout the inheritance process, from the opening of succession to final distribution, to protect heirs' rights.
Last updated: · Prepared by: Av. Barış Kaymaz
Inheritance law governs how a deceased person's estate passes to their heirs. The Turkish Civil Code comprehensively regulates statutory heirship, testamentary dispositions (wills, inheritance contracts) and the procedure for dividing an estate.
Because inheritance matters unfold among family members, they are often emotionally sensitive, making it important for heirs to exercise their legal rights accurately and within statutory deadlines. Reserved shares, waiver of inheritance and reduction actions are key mechanisms protecting heirs.
Statutory Heirship and the Parentela System
In the absence of a will or inheritance contract, an estate is distributed according to the statutory order of succession (zümre system), under which the surviving spouse's share varies depending on which class of heirs they inherit alongside, and the system moves up to the next class only if the lower class has no heirs. Adopted or legally recognised children also acquire statutory heir status, and a certificate of inheritance, obtainable from a notary or the civil court of peace, formally identifies the heirs and their shares.
First and Second Degree Heirs
The first degree covers the deceased's descendants (children, grandchildren); the second covers the parents and their descendants (siblings, nieces/nephews). Second-degree heirs inherit only if there are no first-degree heirs.
Surviving Spouse's Share
The surviving spouse receives one-quarter when inheriting alongside first-degree heirs, one-half alongside second-degree heirs, and three-quarters alongside third-degree heirs; absent any other heirs, the spouse inherits the entire estate.
Wills and Inheritance Contracts
A person may dispose of their estate by testamentary arrangement provided the rights of heirs with a reserved share are not violated, and a will may take the form of an official will, a holographic will, or an oral will, with the official will — made before a notary or civil peace judge in the presence of two witnesses — offering the strongest formal safeguards. An inheritance contract, unlike a will, is based on mutual declarations of intent between the testator and the other party and must be executed in the form of an official will, and a will may be annulled for defects of form, incapacity, or defective intent.
Reserved Share and Reduction Action
The reserved share is the minimum portion of the estate guaranteed by law to certain close heirs (descendants, parents, surviving spouse) that cannot be eliminated even by testamentary disposition. Where lifetime gifts or testamentary dispositions infringe a reserved share, the affected heir may file a reduction (tenkis) action, which must be brought within one year of learning of the death and the infringement, and in any case within ten years of the will's disclosure or, for other dispositions, of the opening of the succession.
Waiver of Inheritance and Disinheritance
Heirs may renounce an inheritance, for example where the estate is over-indebted, by declaring renunciation to the civil court of peace within three months of learning of the succession; failure to renounce within this period is treated as unconditional acceptance. A testator may also disinherit an heir by will where serious grounds listed in law exist, such as a serious crime against the testator or a significant failure to meet family-law obligations, which also extinguishes that heir's reserved share.
Estate Division and Termination of Co-ownership
Where heirs cannot agree, the estate can be divided by converting joint ownership into shared ownership and then pursuing a partition (izale-i şüyu) action; immovables may be divided in kind or, where that is not feasible, sold with the court ordering a sale. The administration of estate assets pending division can also be entrusted to a court-appointed representative at an heir's request.
| Heirs Inherited With | Spouse's Share |
|---|---|
| 1st degree (descendants) | 1/4 |
| 2nd degree (parents) | 1/2 |
| 3rd degree (grandparents) | 3/4 |
| No other heirs | Entire estate |
Services in This Area
- Obtaining certificates of inheritance
- Drafting wills and inheritance contracts
- Handling actions to annul wills
- Filing reduction actions and calculating reserved shares
- Advising on waiver of inheritance and disinheritance
- Handling estate division and termination of co-ownership actions
- Pursuing title cancellation actions based on fictitious transfers by the deceased