Antalya Inheritance & Probate Lawyer

When someone who owned property in Antalya dies, the heirs are often spread across several countries. They need to know which country’s law applies, whether a will made abroad is valid in Turkey, how to obtain a Turkish certificate of inheritance, what happens to debts, and how an apartment or plot owned jointly by several heirs can be divided or sold. Many of the rights involved are tied to short statutory deadlines, and some of those deadlines start running from the date of death.

Ozturk Law Office advises Turkish and foreign heirs on estates with property or assets in Antalya from our office in Muratpaşa, in English and Turkish. This page explains the main rules of Turkish succession law, with each statement linked to the official text of the Turkish Civil Code and the other laws that apply. It is general information; the right course in a particular estate depends on its documents, the nationality of the deceased and the assets involved.

Which Law Governs an Estate with a Foreign Element?

Turkish private international law answers this question in several layers (Private Int. Law art. 20):

In practice, this means that one estate can be governed by two legal systems at once: the deceased’s home law for bank accounts and property abroad, and Turkish law for property in Turkey. Planning how to deal with the Turkish part early avoids conflicts between heirs and between documents issued in different countries.

Who Inherits Under Turkish Law?

The Turkish Civil Code determines the legal heirs by groups of relatives. If there is an heir in an earlier group, the later groups do not inherit:

The surviving spouse inherits alongside each group, with a share that depends on which relatives survive (Civil Code art. 499): one quarter of the estate with descendants, one half with the parents’ group, three quarters with grandparents and their children, and the whole estate if none of these relatives exist. Turkish law does not automatically give the spouse the entire estate where there are children, which often differs from what foreign families expect.

Reserved Shares and Abatement

A person cannot freely leave their entire estate to anyone they choose. If the deceased had descendants, parents or a spouse, they could only dispose by will of the part of the estate outside those heirs’ reserved shares (Civil Code art. 505). The reserved share is half of the legal share for descendants and one quarter of the legal share for each parent; for the surviving spouse it is the whole legal share when inheriting with descendants or the parents’ group, and three quarters of it in other cases (Civil Code art. 506).

Heirs who do not receive their reserved share may sue for abatement of dispositions that exceed the freely disposable part (Civil Code art. 560). The claim must be brought within one year of learning that the reserved share has been infringed and, in any case, within ten years from the opening of the will or, for other dispositions, from the opening of the succession; abatement can be raised as a defence at any time (Civil Code art. 571). For foreign owners, this is the rule most likely to override a will written in a country that allows complete freedom of testation, as far as Turkish real estate is concerned.

Wills: Forms and Challenges

When a Will Is Found: Delivery, Opening and Executors

A will found after a death must be delivered to the civil court of peace at once, whether or not it appears valid. Anyone who drew up or kept the will, or found it among the deceased’s belongings, must deliver it as soon as they learn of the death; otherwise they are liable for the resulting damage. The judge examines the will, takes protective measures and, where possible, decides whether the estate should be handed provisionally to the legal heirs or placed under official administration (Civil Code art. 595).

The will is opened by the civil court of peace at the deceased’s domicile within one month of delivery and read to those concerned; known heirs and other interested persons are invited to attend (Civil Code art. 596). Because several deadlines for challenging a will are linked to its opening and to when the heirs learned of it, the date of the opening record matters. A testator may also appoint one or more executors in the will; an appointee notified by the judge is deemed to accept unless they decline within fifteen days (Civil Code art. 550).

Acquiring the Estate and the Certificate of Inheritance

On death, the heirs acquire the estate as a whole by operation of law. The deceased’s claims, other property rights, movable and immovable property pass to the heirs, and the heirs become personally liable for the deceased’s debts (Civil Code art. 599). Whether to accept an estate with significant debts is therefore a decision that must be taken in the first months after death.

A certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi, often called “veraset ilamı”) showing who the legal heirs are is issued on application by a civil court of peace or a notary; its invalidity can be raised at any time (Civil Code art. 598). Transfers of land, bank procedures and division of the estate usually start with this document. Where the deceased or the heirs are foreign nationals, or the family relationships are proven by foreign documents, the competent route is checked case by case.

Heirs sometimes already hold a certificate or court decision issued abroad. A foreign court decision, including non-contentious decisions, has the effect of a final judgment or conclusive evidence in Turkey once a Turkish court has established that it meets the conditions for enforcement set by law (Private Int. Law art. 58). Whether it is quicker to seek recognition of a foreign document or to obtain a Turkish certificate directly depends on the estate.

Renouncing an Inheritance

Legal and appointed heirs may renounce the inheritance. If the deceased was clearly or officially insolvent at the time of death, the inheritance is deemed renounced (Civil Code art. 605).

• Deadline: the period is three months. For legal heirs it runs from the date they learned of the death; for appointed heirs, from the date the will was officially notified to them (Civil Code art. 606).
• Declaration: the renunciation is declared to the civil court of peace, orally or in writing, without conditions or reservations (Civil Code art. 609).
• Losing the right: an heir who does not renounce within the period acquires the estate unconditionally. An heir who, before the period ends, acts beyond ordinary administration of the estate, hides estate assets or takes them for themselves can no longer renounce (Civil Code art. 610).
• Liability after renunciation: heirs who renounce the estate of an insolvent person may still be liable to creditors up to the value of what they received from the deceased in the five years before death (Civil Code art. 618).

Heirs who live abroad should be particularly careful: the three-month period does not wait for documents to be translated or for travel to Turkey, and using or selling estate property in the meantime can cost the right to renounce.

Uncertain Debts: The Official Inventory

If it is unclear whether the deceased had debts, or how large they are, there is an option before deciding on renunciation. Every heir entitled to renounce may ask for an official inventory of the estate. The request is made to the civil court of peace within one month, following the procedure for renunciation, and a request by one heir benefits all the others (Civil Code art. 619). The court records the assets and liabilities of the estate at their estimated values; anyone with information on the deceased’s finances must provide it, and the heirs must in particular report debts they know of (Civil Code art. 620).

Disinheritance, Unworthiness and Waiver

An heir may lose their share in three different ways, each with its own conditions:

Lifetime Gifts and Equalisation

Disputes often arise when the deceased gave one child a flat, land or money during their lifetime. Legal heirs must return to the estate, for equalisation between them, gifts they received from the deceased during their lifetime as an advance on their inheritance. Gifts to descendants such as a dowry, start-up capital, a transfer of property or release from a debt are subject to equalisation unless the deceased expressly provided otherwise (Civil Code art. 669). If such an heir loses their status as heir, the obligation passes to those who take their place, in proportion to the increase in their shares (Civil Code art. 670). Equalisation is a different remedy from abatement and from claims that a sale was a disguised gift; which applies depends on the nature of the gift and the documents.

Joint Heirs, Division and Partition

Transfers Made to Defeat Heirs

A common dispute arises when the deceased, during their lifetime, transferred property to one person as an apparent sale although they actually intended a gift, in order to keep it from the other heirs. In Turkish practice this is called “muris muvazaası”. When interpreting a contract, the parties’ real and common intention prevails over the words they used to hide their true purpose (Code of Obligations art. 19). Cases seeking the cancellation of such transfers concern rights over real estate and are therefore brought in the court where the property is located (Civil Procedure Code art. 12). Proving the deceased’s true intention is the central issue.

Recovering Estate Property

Where estate property is held by someone who is not an heir, or whose right is weaker, a legal or appointed heir may bring a claim for recovery of the estate (miras sebebiyle istihkak davası) against that person. The judge also decides disputes about heirship in this case and may order protective measures such as an annotation in the land register (Civil Code art. 637). The claim is time-barred one year after the claimant learned that they are an heir and that a defendant in good faith holds the property, and in any case ten years after the death or the opening of the will; against defendants in bad faith the period is twenty years (Civil Code art. 639).

First Steps After a Death

1. Certificate of inheritance: establishing the heirs and their shares through a certificate of inheritance (Civil Code art. 598).
2. Identifying the estate: real estate, bank accounts, claims and, above all, debts. If necessary, protective measures can be requested from the civil court of peace (Civil Code art. 589).
3. Watching the renunciation deadline: if the debts may be larger than the assets, the decision must be taken within the three-month period (Civil Code art. 606), avoiding any acts beyond ordinary administration in the meantime (Civil Code art. 610).
4. Reviewing wills and gifts: any will should be delivered and opened; the deadlines for annulment and abatement claims should be noted (Civil Code art. 559, Civil Code art. 571).
5. Division: by written agreement if the heirs agree, or by a partition case if they do not (Civil Code art. 642, Civil Code art. 676).

Which Court Hears Inheritance Cases?

Unless the law provides otherwise, cases concerning property rights are heard by the civil court of first instance (Civil Procedure Code art. 2), while division and partition cases are heard by the civil court of peace (Civil Procedure Code art. 4). Cases on the division of the estate, the invalidity of a division agreement, the annulment and abatement of dispositions, recovery of estate property and the administration of the estate between heirs must be brought at the deceased’s last domicile; cases on the cancellation of a certificate of inheritance can also be brought where any heir lives (Civil Procedure Code art. 11). Cases concerning rights over real estate must be brought where the property is located (Civil Procedure Code art. 12).

As a result, if the deceased lived in Antalya or the inherited property is in Antalya, the case is usually heard in Antalya, even if all the heirs live in other cities or abroad. Heirs abroad can work with us remotely through online consultation. For questions about the property itself, see our real estate and property lawyer page.

How We Help Heirs