Inheritance Law in Turkey - Lawyer and Consultancy

The Importance and Currentness of The Law of Inheritance. Inheritance, is a basic right entitled by the Turkish constitution. If one dies, the died person's legal (people who are mandatory devisees) or chosen devisees (people who are chosen by the legator) share the wealth legally.

The died person is called legator, the wealth that is going to be shared is called inheritance and people who the wealth will be distributed is called devisee. According to the Turkish Civil Law article 599, "all of the devisees share the wealth when the legator dies". The devisees earn legator's rights of rem, rights of claim, other rights of propertly, ownership of his/her immovable and movable properties.

And of course, they are responsible to pay the legator's debts. Especially in the least years when the world has become more and more familiar with the international law, the numbers of international marriages have risen. This has brought a lot of problems and results meanwhile bringing the results of inheritance law originating via the union of marriage.

Who Are The Devisees? | Inheritance Law in Turkey

There are two types of devisees: legal and chosen inheritors. Legal Inheritors: A legal imheritor is someone that is mandatory devisee even if the legator did not see that person as a devisee. These people are first degree relatives, meaning the legator's children. If a devisee had died before the legator, the devisee is his/her children. This means if the legator dies, the legator's grandchildren will be a devisee instead of their parent. Another devisee is the ascendants. If there is no descendants of the person that died before the legator, the devisee is the person's parents. These are equal devisees. And if the parents are died too, the devisee is the person's siblings. Apart from this, the legator's spouse will have one of the most important distibutive shares. The last legator is, for people who has no devisees, "the state". Chosen Inheritors: These are the people chosen by the legator at their own choice. These can be real persons as well as legal entities. But a legator cannot leave all of their wealth if they have a legal inheritor. Because the legal inheritors have reserved portions. The legator, whether they want to leave a portion or not, has to leave a portion to the legal devisees.

The Spouse's Portion and "Compulsory Portion"

• If the spouse alive shares the wealth with their descendants, they 1/4 of wealth.
• If the spouse alive shares the wealth with their ascendants, they ahve half of the wealth.
• If the spouse alive shares the wealth with the legator's parents they have 3/4
• And if there is no other devisee than the spouse, the spouse has all of the wealth.

The compulsory portions are like this: Descendants (chilren) get at least half of the portion while the ascendants get at least 3/4 of their portion. The spouse alive gets all of the portion that is stated by the law as the compulsory portion.

The Procedure of Distributing the Wealth

The process starts with legal or chosen devisees' getting a certificate of inheritance. As a rule, especially the distribution incuding immovable properties, the legal act is done according to the offical form. This act is done by appealing to a notary or applying to civil court of peace. It should be stated that a devisee that thinks they did not get their compulsory portion or they are wronged, they can file a lawsuit to start a reduction case.