1. turkish real estate lawyer
Draw up a will in Turkey
Draw up a will in Turkey: yes or no?
I will get straight to the point. Judging the responses and queries that I received in the last
couple of months, it appears that the Turkish law on inheritance is keeping a lot of people
busy. For this reason in this article I will explain the details about ‘Wills’ in relation to owning
property as a foreigner in Turkey.
According to the Turkish law there is no need to write a Will if your intention is to leave your
property to your partner and children. The Turkish inheritance law meets this right
automatically. In case one of the matrimonial partners dies, the home (property) will be
inherited by the longest-living partner and the children of the deceased or only the children
when there is no partner. Therefore it is a waste of time and money when you draft a Turkish
will, foremostly when you already have a will in your own native country.
However, it is sensible to draw up a will when there are no children, you have a type of
cohabitation which is not legitimized in Turkey (like a gay marriage or a partnership
agreement) or you would like to donate to a third party who is not a legal inheritor of the
deceased. The longest-living partner of the testator can not be disinherited with a will;
children on the other hand can be disinherited, only up to the legitimate share of one half of
the legal heritage.
Should you nevertheless still want to draw up a will, you will have the right to appoint one or
more executors in this matter. An executor is someone (it does not necessarily have to be an
inheritor) who is appointed and legally authorized to execute the wishes that are laid down in
the will of the testator. On behalf of the inheritor the executor is also authorized to obtain a
certificate of inheritance from the court, without the inheritors having to authorize the
executor individually. This saves a lot of time and money for the inheritors who are not
familiar with the bureaucracy of Turkey.
An executor has the right to resign from his duties, in which case he must inform the local
cantonal judge. However, once the executor has started to carry out his duties, he can not
resign his responsibility without any warning. At any time the cantonal judge can call the
executor to account.
turkish real estate lawyer