A will (vasiyetname) under Turkish law is a unilateral testamentary disposition through which a testator directs the distribution of their estate after death. The framework sits in Book Three of the Turkish Civil Code (Türk Medeni Kanunu, Law No. 4721, abbreviated TMK), which governs the entirety of Turkish succession law from intestate-succession rules through testamentary capacity, the recognised forms of wills, the reserved-share regime that protects close relatives, the procedural mechanics of opening the will and obtaining a certificate of inheritance, and the substantive grounds for challenging an invalid will. For foreign nationals with Turkish-located property, family ties to Turkish residents, or cross-border estate planning needs, the Turkish framework intersects with home-jurisdiction succession law through the conflict-of-laws rules in the Code on Private International Law and Procedural Law (Law No. 5718). This guide walks through the validity requirements for making a Turkish will, the three statutory forms, the reserved-share constraints on testamentary freedom, the probate procedure, the inheritance-tax position, executor duties, and the cross-border estate architecture — written in plain English for foreign clients and their international counsel, with the relevant Turkish legal terminology identified at first mention.
1. The Civil Code Inheritance Framework: Book Three of the TMK
A Turkish Law Firm advising on a will-drafting or probate matter works against the systematic structure of Book Three of the Civil Code, which runs from Article 495 to Article 682 and covers the full architecture of Turkish succession law. The first chapter (Articles 495 to 501) sets out the intestate-succession rules — the default distribution that applies in the absence of a valid will. The second chapter (Articles 502 to 558) covers testamentary dispositions: capacity, content, the recognised forms, the reserved-share regime, the rules on revocation, the heirship contract, and the grounds for challenging a will's validity. The third chapter (Articles 575 to 682) covers the procedural side of succession: the opening of inheritance, the certificate of inheritance, executor appointments, partition between co-heirs, and the resolution of co-ownership.
An Istanbul Law Firm advising a foreign client also has to position the Civil Code framework against the related statutory regimes that affect estate matters. The Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law (Veraset ve İntikal Vergisi Kanunu, Law No. 7338) governs the inheritance-tax position on estates with Turkish-located assets or Turkish-resident heirs, with the tax administered by the Tax Office and assessed against the heirs rather than against the estate itself. The Code on Private International Law and Procedural Law (Law No. 5718) governs the conflict-of-laws position for estates with foreign elements, with Article 20 applying the deceased's national law to movable property and Turkish law to immovable property located in Turkey, and Article 22 establishing alternative bases for recognising the formal validity of a foreign will. The Civil Procedure Code (Law No. 6100) governs the procedural mechanics of will-opening, certificate-of-inheritance issuance, and inheritance-related litigation.
A lawyer in Turkey advising on the practical interface between these statutes also covers the institutional architecture. The Civil Court of Peace (Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi) handles the will-opening procedure and issues the certificate of inheritance in straightforward cases. The Civil Court of First Instance (Asliye Hukuk Mahkemesi) handles will-validity challenges, reserved-share reduction actions, and inheritance-related disputes that exceed the Civil Court of Peace's competence. The Land Registry Directorate handles the transfer of immovable property to heirs against a valid certificate of inheritance. The Tax Office administers the inheritance-tax filing and clearance. Banks and other asset-holding institutions release frozen accounts to heirs against the certificate. Notaries handle the formal execution of official wills, the notarisation of heirship-related documents, and certain certificate-of-inheritance issuances in straightforward cases under the regime introduced by the 2011 reform.
2. Capacity to Make a Will: TMK Article 502
A Turkish Law Firm advising on the threshold capacity question works through Article 502 of the Civil Code, which establishes the conditions for testamentary capacity. The testator must have reached the age of fifteen and must possess sound judgment (temyiz kudreti) at the time the will is executed. Capacity is presumed for adults of ordinary cognitive functioning; a will made by a person below fifteen is invalid regardless of the testator's apparent maturity. Capacity is assessed at the moment of execution, which means a testator with a chronic cognitive condition who makes a will during a period of restored lucidity has produced a valid will, while a testator without any chronic diagnosis who makes a will during an acute episode of impairment has not. The question is functional rather than diagnostic: the testator must understand the nature of the document, the property being disposed of, and the natural beneficiaries of the testator's bounty.
An Istanbul Law Firm advising a testator with declining capacity, or advising a testator's family on whether to encourage a will to be executed, addresses a sensitive practical question. The standard prudential approach where capacity may later be questioned is to execute the will as an official will (resmi vasiyetname) before a notary, with the notary making a contemporaneous record of the testator's apparent state, capacity-relevant observations, and the procedure followed. A medical certificate from the testator's treating physician issued within a short window of the execution date provides additional documentary support. Witnesses to the execution should be neutral parties who can later speak to the testator's coherence at the moment of signing. None of these measures guarantee that a future challenge will fail, but they materially strengthen the documentary record on which the validity question will turn if the will is challenged.
A lawyer in Turkey advising a foreign testator domiciled abroad on capacity considerations also addresses the cross-border layer. A testator's home-jurisdiction capacity assessment may produce a different result from the Turkish standard; the conflict-of-laws rules govern which assessment applies to the question of whether the will is valid in Turkey. For Turkish-located immovable property, Turkish capacity rules apply through the Article 20 conflict-of-laws provision in the Code on Private International Law. For movable property, the deceased's national law applies, but the validity question may still be litigated in a Turkish forum if the dispute arises in Turkey. Coordinated advice between Turkish counsel and home-jurisdiction counsel ensures that the capacity-relevant documentation is compiled to satisfy both regimes rather than only one.
3. The Three Will Forms Under Articles 532–540
An English speaking lawyer in Turkey explaining the will-form options to a foreign testator covers the three statutory forms recognised by the Civil Code. The official will (resmi vasiyetname) under Articles 532 to 537 is the most commonly used form for substantial estates and for testators where future challenge risk is anticipated. The procedure requires execution before a notary, justice of the peace, or other authorised official, in the presence of two witnesses. The testator either dictates the will text to the official or presents a prepared text to the official; the official reads the text back to the testator, the testator confirms the content reflects their intent, and the testator, the official, and the two witnesses sign the document. The witnesses must satisfy the eligibility criteria in Article 536: they cannot be beneficiaries, cannot be relatives of beneficiaries within prohibited degrees, and must have legal capacity. The procedural file maintained by the notary becomes part of the evidentiary record of the will.
A Turkish Law Firm advising a testator on the handwritten will (el yazılı vasiyetname) under Article 538 covers a simpler but more form-sensitive option. The handwritten will must be entirely written in the testator's own hand from start to finish, must be dated with the year, month, and day, and must be signed by the testator. Typewritten or computer-printed text is not acceptable, even if the testator dictated the content; partial typewriting voids the will. An incomplete date — year only, or month and year without the day — is treated as a fatal defect by the case-law of the Court of Cassation. The handwritten will does not require witnesses, which gives it a privacy advantage but removes the contemporaneous procedural record that would corroborate the testator's capacity and volition; this trade-off favours the handwritten form for straightforward dispositions among close family members and the official form for more complex or contested situations.
Turkish lawyers who handle the oral will (sözlü vasiyetname) under Articles 539 to 541 work with a form that exists for genuine emergencies but is rarely available in normal circumstances. The oral will is permitted only where the testator is in a situation that prevents the use of the official or handwritten form — typically imminent death, an emergency that cuts off access to a notary, severe illness in a remote location, or military service in a combat zone. The testator orally communicates the testamentary disposition to two witnesses, who must immediately reduce the disposition to writing or proceed without delay to a competent court or notary to record the disposition. The oral will lapses if the testator subsequently has the opportunity to use the official or handwritten form and does not do so within the prescribed window. In practice, oral wills are challenged frequently on whether the qualifying emergency actually existed and on whether the witness-recording procedure was properly followed, and counsel typically advises against relying on the oral form except where no alternative exists. The post-emergency confirmation procedure adds a further layer of complexity: under Article 540 of the Civil Code, the witnesses must record the disposition in writing without delay and submit it to the competent court for registration, or appear before the court to record the disposition orally, and the will lapses automatically if the testator is restored to a position where the official or handwritten form becomes available and three months pass without the testator executing a will in one of those forms. The case-law of the Court of Cassation has held that delays in the witness-recording step beyond what the emergency reasonably required will void the oral will, and that the qualifying emergency must be assessed against the testator's actual circumstances rather than against subjective belief.
4. Reserved Share: The Saklı Pay Regime Under Articles 505–506
A Turkish Law Firm advising a testator on the limits of testamentary freedom works through the reserved-share regime (saklı pay) at Articles 505 and 506 of the Civil Code. The reserved share is the statutory minimum that protected heirs are entitled to receive regardless of the testator's testamentary disposition. The protected categories are the deceased's descendants (children, grandchildren), the surviving spouse, and in the absence of descendants the deceased's parents. Siblings were a protected category historically but were removed from the reserved-share regime by the 2007 amendments to the Civil Code, leaving the testator with full testamentary freedom against siblings except where they take through intestate succession. Each protected heir's reserved share is calculated as a fraction of their intestate share rather than as a fraction of the entire estate.
An Istanbul Law Firm running the reserved-share calculation for a testator works through Article 506. For descendants, the reserved share is one-half of the intestate share. For the surviving spouse where descendants exist, the reserved share is the entirety of the spouse's intestate share (the spouse's intestate share is itself one-quarter of the estate where children survive). For the surviving spouse where parents but no descendants survive, the reserved share is three-quarters of the intestate share. For parents where they qualify (no descendants), the reserved share is one-quarter of the intestate share. The freely disposable portion (tasarruf nisabı) is the residual that remains after all reserved-share entitlements are satisfied — the portion the testator can dispose of by will to non-protected parties without triggering a reduction action.
A lawyer in Turkey advising a testator whose intended dispositions exceed the freely disposable portion explains the consequences. A will that leaves the entire estate to a non-protected beneficiary, or that disinherits a protected heir without statutory grounds, is not invalid on its face — but the protected heirs whose reserved share is impaired can bring a reserved-share reduction action (tenkis davası) under Articles 560 to 571 to claw back the over-favoured dispositions to the extent necessary to satisfy their reserved-share entitlements. The reduction action is a statute-driven calculation rather than a discretionary equitable remedy, and the protected heirs' recovery is limited to the reserved-share quantum rather than to the entirety of the disinheriting disposition. Where the testator wishes to deviate substantially from the reserved-share baseline, the prudential approach is to address the deviation through a lifetime arrangement (a renunciation contract under Article 528, a substantive lifetime gift, or another structured family arrangement) rather than through a will that will be contested at the death. The Civil Code does provide a narrow disinheritance mechanism at Article 510 for cases where a protected heir has committed a serious offence against the testator or close family, or has seriously violated their statutory family-law obligations toward the testator. The grounds are interpreted strictly: ordinary family disagreements, lifestyle disputes, or estrangements without a specific qualifying act do not support disinheritance under Article 510, and a purported disinheritance outside these grounds is ineffective. Where the testator does invoke Article 510, the will must specify the qualifying ground with sufficient particularity that the disinherited heir and the court can assess the basis, and the burden of proof at any subsequent challenge falls on the party asserting the validity of the disinheritance. For most practical purposes, the lifetime-arrangement route remains substantially more reliable than the disinheritance route.
5. Revocation, Modification and Subsequent Wills
An English speaking lawyer in Turkey advising a testator on amending an existing will works through Articles 542 to 546 of the Civil Code, which establish the rules on revocation and modification. A testator with capacity can revoke or modify a previous will at any time during their lifetime through any of the recognised will forms. The simplest revocation mechanism is to execute a new will containing an explicit revocation clause; the new will supersedes the prior will to the extent of the inconsistency, and an explicit clause stating that all prior wills are revoked produces a clean replacement. Partial modification through a codicil-equivalent instrument is also possible, with the modifying instrument required to satisfy the same form requirements as the underlying will it modifies. Where a testator with a notarial will wishes to make a small modification, the modification must itself be executed in one of the recognised will forms — a handwritten modification by the testator alone is sufficient, but a typewritten modification or an unsigned annotation on the original will is not. Counsel advising on substantial modifications generally recommends executing a fresh complete will with a comprehensive revocation clause rather than relying on a sequence of partial modifications, because the cumulative effect of multiple partial modifications can produce interpretive ambiguity at the post-death stage.
A Turkish Law Firm advising on revocation through document destruction also covers the rules at Article 543. A testator can revoke a will by physically destroying the document — by tearing it, burning it, or otherwise materially altering it with revocation intent. The destruction must be performed by the testator personally or by a third party at the testator's express direction. Accidental destruction does not produce revocation; loss without destruction does not produce revocation. Where a will is missing at the testator's death and the circumstances suggest the testator may have destroyed it intentionally, the heirs face a factual question about whether revocation occurred, with the burden of proof on the party asserting the revocation. Where multiple wills exist and their relationship is unclear, the most recent valid will takes precedence to the extent of any inconsistency, with prior wills remaining operative for non-inconsistent provisions.
Turkish lawyers who handle the practical sequencing of revocation and replacement also advise on operational mechanics that prevent later disputes. The standard practice on a substantial replacement of an existing will is to execute the new will as an official will before a notary even if the prior will was a handwritten will, because the notarial procedure produces a contemporaneous record that supports the testator's revocation intent. The new will should contain an explicit clause stating that all prior testamentary dispositions are revoked, identified by reference to the prior will's form, date, and registration if applicable. Where prior wills have been deposited with notaries, the testator should formally request the return or destruction of the prior deposit. Where the testator has informed beneficiaries of prior dispositions, communicating the revocation to those beneficiaries reduces the risk of a post-death challenge alleging the testator did not actually intend to revoke.
6. Probate Procedure: Will Opening at the Civil Court of Peace
A Turkish Law Firm advising heirs on the post-death procedure works through the will-opening rules at Articles 596 to 600 of the Civil Code, administered through the Civil Court of Peace (Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi) of the deceased's last residence. The procedure begins with the surrender of the will to the court — by the person holding the will, by the notary if the will was an official will deposited with the notary, or by any heir or interested party who has come into possession of the will after the death. The court schedules the opening hearing, notifies the known heirs, and at the hearing reads the will text into the record, identifies the dispositions, and produces the will-opening minutes (vasiyetnamenin açılması tutanağı). The opening procedure is a procedural step that establishes the will's existence and content; it does not adjudicate validity, which remains a separate question for the Civil Court of First Instance if challenged.
An Istanbul Law Firm advising heirs whose interests may be adversely affected by the will explains that the will opening is the trigger for the validity-challenge analysis. Article 559 of the Civil Code establishes the time limits for challenging the will: one year from the claimant's knowledge of the will, the ground for invalidity, and the claimant's own right; in any case, ten years from the will-opening date for good-faith respondents and twenty years for bad-faith respondents. Heirs who are dissatisfied with the will's dispositions and who have a basis for challenging validity should consult counsel within the period running from the will-opening notification rather than waiting for the will to take operative effect. The companion guide on will challenges in Turkey under TMK Article 557 addresses the substantive grounds, evidence strategy, and procedural mechanics of the validity action in detail.
A lawyer in Turkey advising the executor or the lead heir on the post-opening procedure addresses the sequence that converts the will from an opened document into operative distributions. The first step is obtaining the certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi) under Article 598 of the Civil Code, which is the operative document for asset-administration purposes; the certificate identifies the heirs and their respective shares as established by the will, modified where applicable by the operation of the reserved-share rules. The second step is the inheritance-tax filing under Law No. 7338 (covered in the next section). The third step is the asset-by-asset transfer at the Land Registry for immovable property, at the banks for monetary assets, at the Trade Registry for corporate shares, and at the relevant other registries for the specific asset categories the estate contains. Each transfer is conducted against the certificate of inheritance and the supporting documentation rather than directly against the will text.
7. The Certificate of Inheritance Under Article 598
An Istanbul Law Firm running the certificate-of-inheritance step for a foreign client works through Article 598 of the Civil Code, which authorises the issuance of the certificate by either the Civil Court of Peace or, in straightforward cases, by a notary under the regime introduced by the 2011 reform. The certificate identifies the heirs, the basis for their entitlement (intestate succession, will, or a combination), and the proportional share each heir is entitled to. It is the operative document for compelling banks, the Land Registry, the Trade Registry, and other asset-holding institutions to release or transfer estate assets to the heirs. Without the certificate, asset-holding institutions are not entitled to act on heir claims, even where the death and the heirship relationships are otherwise documented.
A Turkish Law Firm running the documentary support for a certificate-of-inheritance application assembles the death certificate of the deceased, the family-composition records (nüfus kayıt örneği) from the Civil Registry showing the deceased's family relationships, the will text and the will-opening minutes if a will exists, and the apostille-authenticated foreign-document equivalents where heirs reside abroad or where the deceased's family relationships extend across jurisdictions. The notary or Civil Court of Peace reviews the documentation against the legal-heirship rules, identifies the heirs, calculates the shares, and issues the certificate. The procedure is administrative rather than adjudicative: the certificate establishes a presumption of heirship rather than a final determination, and is subject to revision if subsequent evidence demonstrates that the certificate was issued on incomplete or inaccurate information.
Turkish lawyers who handle certificate-of-inheritance work for foreign-resident heirs also address the conflict-of-laws layer. Where the deceased was a foreign national, the substantive inheritance law applicable to the movable portion of the estate is the deceased's national law under Article 20 of the Code on Private International Law, while Turkish law applies to the immovable portion located in Turkey. The certificate accordingly reflects a hybrid distribution where the heirship determination differs between asset categories. Coordinating the foreign-jurisdiction inheritance documentation with the Turkish certificate procedure is one of the recurring areas where local Turkish counsel adds material value, because the foreign-resident heirs typically cannot manage the documentary chain — apostille authentication, sworn translation, certified copies, and the formal request to the issuing notary or court — across jurisdictions without local representation. The choice between notarial and court issuance also depends on the complexity of the heirship analysis: notaries can issue certificates in straightforward cases where the documentary record clearly identifies the heirs and their shares, but cases involving disputed heirship, foreign nationals where the documentary chain is incomplete, contested family relationships, or any element of legal complexity beyond the routine remain within the Civil Court of Peace's exclusive competence. Where a notary declines to issue the certificate or where the case requires court adjudication of a disputed point, counsel files the application with the Civil Court of Peace, which conducts a more detailed review and produces a court-issued certificate that carries the same operative effect for asset-administration purposes.
8. Inheritance Tax Under Law No. 7338
A lawyer in Turkey advising heirs on the inheritance-tax position works through the Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law (Veraset ve İntikal Vergisi Kanunu, Law No. 7338). The tax is imposed on the heirs rather than on the estate itself, with each heir paying tax on the value of their individual inheritance. The applicable tax rate depends on the value of the inherited share and the relationship between the deceased and the heir, with closer relatives (descendants, spouse, parents) subject to a more favourable rate schedule than distant relatives or non-relative beneficiaries. The valuation base is the fair market value of the inherited assets at the date of death, with specific valuation rules for real estate, securities, and other asset categories. Real estate is generally valued at the higher of the contractual value reflected in the most recent transfer record and the tax value (rayiç bedel) reflected in the municipal records, with adjustments where neither figure reasonably approximates the actual market value. Listed securities are valued at the closing price on the relevant exchange on the date of death. Unlisted shares in private companies are valued through a structured methodology that incorporates the company's net asset value and recent transactions, with the Tax Office having authority to challenge valuations the heirs propose where the documentary support is inadequate. Bank accounts and cash are valued at face value. Foreign-currency-denominated assets are converted at the Central Bank's exchange rate on the date of death. The valuation rules generate the most disputes for unlisted shares and high-value real estate, where the gap between the heirs' valuation and the Tax Office's preferred valuation can be substantial.
An Istanbul Law Firm running the inheritance-tax filing on behalf of foreign-resident heirs addresses the procedural windows established by the Tax Procedure Law (Vergi Usul Kanunu, Law No. 213) and the implementing regulation under Law No. 7338. The standard declaration period for deaths occurring in Turkey is four months from the date of death, with extended periods applicable where the death occurred abroad or where the heirs reside abroad. The declaration is filed with the Tax Office of the deceased's last residence in Turkey, or where the deceased was a non-resident with Turkish-located assets, with the Tax Office of the location where the assets are situated. The tax is paid in instalments over a multi-year period prescribed by the implementing regulation, with the timing varying by the size of the assessment and the heir's compliance posture.
A Turkish Law Firm advising on the tax-planning dimension also addresses the cross-border tax position. Where the heir is a tax resident of a country with which Turkey has a double-taxation treaty covering inheritance taxes, the treaty may modify the headline domestic position; Turkey's network of inheritance-tax treaties is narrower than its income-tax treaty network, and the analysis turns on the specific treaty in force between Turkey and the heir's home jurisdiction. Foreign tax credits in the heir's home jurisdiction may also be available to relieve any double taxation that the treaty does not cover. The tax-clearance certificate (vergi borcu yoktur belgesi) issued by the Tax Office on completion of the inheritance-tax process is the operative document the Land Registry requires before transferring real estate to heirs, which means the tax filing and the asset-transfer steps run sequentially rather than in parallel, with the asset-transfer steps blocked until the tax position is cleared.
9. Executor Duties and Estate Administration
A Turkish Law Firm advising an executor (vasiyeti yerine getirme görevlisi) appointed under the will works through Articles 550 to 556 of the Civil Code, which establish the executor's powers and duties. An executor's appointment is operative from the will-opening date and continues until the estate has been distributed in accordance with the will or until the executor is replaced. The executor's principal duties are to identify and inventory the estate's assets, to satisfy the estate's debts, to administer the assets pending distribution, to coordinate the inheritance-tax filing, and to distribute the assets to the beneficiaries in accordance with the will's dispositions. Where the will does not designate an executor, the heirs administer the estate collectively, with disputes resolved through the Civil Court of Peace's general inheritance-administration jurisdiction.
An Istanbul Law Firm advising on executor liability works through Article 553 of the Civil Code, which imposes a fiduciary standard on the executor. The executor is liable to the heirs and to the estate's creditors for losses caused by breach of the duty of care; the standard is the diligent administration that a prudent person would exercise on their own affairs. The standard liability scenarios are failure to identify estate assets, premature distribution that prejudices creditors, sale of estate assets at undervalue, failure to file the inheritance-tax declaration on time, and misappropriation of estate funds. The executor's protective architecture is built around documenting each administrative step, maintaining a clean accounting record of the estate's receipts and expenditures, and obtaining heir consents for discretionary decisions where the will does not provide specific guidance.
A lawyer in Turkey advising on the practical mechanics of estate administration also covers the operational sequence. The first step is the asset inventory, which identifies and values each asset in the estate, distinguishes between the deceased's solely-owned assets and assets held jointly or in trust, and produces a documented record that supports the inheritance-tax filing and the eventual distribution. The second step is the creditor-notification and debt-settlement phase, which addresses outstanding claims against the estate before distribution; an executor who distributes assets before settling creditor claims may face personal liability to the unpaid creditors. The third step is the tax filing and clearance phase. The fourth step is the asset-by-asset distribution against the certificate of inheritance and the supporting documentation. The fifth step is the close-out phase, in which the executor produces a final accounting to the heirs and obtains heir confirmations releasing the executor from further obligations. Foreign-resident executors face additional procedural challenges: managing the Turkish administrative interface from abroad typically requires either a power of attorney to a Turkish counsel for execution-step representation or extended in-person presence in Turkey for the procedural steps that cannot be delegated. Bank accounts and Land Registry transactions are the most procedurally demanding steps for foreign-resident executors because the institutions typically require in-person attendance or a notarised power of attorney specifically authorising the relevant transaction, and the standard general powers of attorney foreign clients carry are often insufficient for the specific procedural steps the institution requires. Counsel advising a foreign-resident executor at the outset typically prepares a comprehensive Turkish power of attorney covering the full range of administrative steps, certified through the relevant consular or apostille authentication chain, to enable the executor to manage the Turkish interface without repeated travel.
10. Cross-Border Estates and Conflict of Laws
An English speaking lawyer in Turkey advising a foreign-resident testator or a foreign-resident heir works through the Code on Private International Law and Procedural Law (Law No. 5718). Article 20 establishes the governing-law rule for inheritance: the deceased's national law applies to movable property, and Turkish law applies to immovable property located in Turkey. For a foreign-national deceased with both movable and immovable Turkish assets, the rule produces a bifurcated estate where different succession laws apply to different asset categories — the home-jurisdiction law governs the bank accounts, securities, and personal property, and Turkish law governs the real estate. The bifurcation has substantive consequences: the reserved-share regime applicable to the immovable portion is the Turkish regime regardless of the home jurisdiction's testamentary-freedom rules, and a testator from a jurisdiction with broader testamentary freedom can find that the Turkish-located real estate is subject to reserved-share constraints the testator did not anticipate.
A Turkish Law Firm advising on the formal-validity question works through Article 22 of the Code on Private International Law, which accepts a will as formally valid if it complies with the law of any of three reference points: the law of the place of execution, the deceased's national law, or Turkish law. This alternative-bases rule is broadly favourable to the recognition of foreign wills in Turkish proceedings and means that a will validly executed under the formal requirements of the testator's home jurisdiction is generally recognised in Turkey for formal-validity purposes, even if it would not satisfy the Turkish form requirements. The substantive challenges that remain available — capacity, volition, content limitations imposed by the reserved-share regime — are addressed under the applicable substantive law identified by Article 20.
Turkish lawyers who handle cross-border estate planning for foreign-resident clients also address the practical recognition pathway. A foreign will affecting Turkish-located assets is typically introduced into the Turkish system through the will-opening procedure at the Civil Court of Peace, with the foreign will presented along with apostille authentication, sworn translation, and any home-jurisdiction probate or grant documentation. The Turkish court reviews the will against the formal-validity standard in Article 22 and the substantive constraints that apply to the Turkish-located portion of the estate, and produces the will-opening minutes that allow the certificate-of-inheritance procedure to proceed. Coordinated estate planning during the testator's lifetime — including a Turkish-law-compliant will addressing the immovable property, a coordinated home-jurisdiction will addressing the movable property and non-Turkish assets, and lifetime gifts and structures where they support the overall estate plan — materially simplifies the post-death procedure for the heirs and reduces the risk of cross-jurisdiction conflicts. The recurring architectural choice for foreign nationals with substantial Turkish-located property is between a single global will (typically a home-jurisdiction will that purports to cover the worldwide estate) and a multi-will structure (one will per jurisdiction, each addressing the local-law-governed portion). The single-will approach minimises drafting cost and preserves a coherent overall estate plan, but produces post-death complications where the home-jurisdiction will must be recognised and translated for Turkish probate purposes, and where the home-jurisdiction will's dispositions intersect awkwardly with the Turkish reserved-share regime applicable to immovable property. The multi-will approach produces cleaner local probate procedures but requires careful drafting to ensure that the wills do not inadvertently revoke each other and that the cumulative dispositions cover the entire estate without gaps. Counsel coordinating the architecture between Turkish and home-jurisdiction lawyers typically develops a written coordination memorandum identifying the asset categories, the applicable laws, the chosen will architecture, and the operative dispositions for each asset class.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a will under Turkish law? A will (vasiyetname) is a unilateral testamentary disposition through which a testator directs the distribution of their estate after death. The framework sits in Book Three of the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721) at Articles 502 onwards, covering capacity, form, content, and the procedural mechanics of administering the disposition after death.
- What are the recognised will forms in Turkey? Three forms. The official will (resmi vasiyetname) is executed before a notary or other authorised official with two witnesses. The handwritten will (el yazılı vasiyetname) is entirely written, dated, and signed in the testator's own hand. The oral will (sözlü vasiyetname) is permitted only in extraordinary circumstances such as imminent death.
- Who has capacity to make a will? Article 502 of the Civil Code requires that the testator be at least fifteen years old and possess sound judgment at the time of execution. Capacity is assessed functionally at the moment of execution rather than diagnostically.
- Do witnesses need to be present for a handwritten will? No. A handwritten will under Article 538 requires only that the document be entirely written, dated, and signed in the testator's own hand. Witnesses are required for the official will form but not for the handwritten form.
- Can a typewritten will be valid? No. A handwritten will containing typewritten text fails the form requirement and is invalid. An official will may incorporate a prepared text but must be executed before the notary or other authorised official with the required procedural steps.
- What is the reserved share? The reserved share (saklı pay) under Articles 505 and 506 of the Civil Code is the statutory minimum that protected heirs are entitled to receive regardless of the testator's testamentary disposition. Protected categories are descendants, the surviving spouse, and in the absence of descendants the deceased's parents.
- Can a testator disinherit a protected heir? Disinheritance is permitted only on the limited grounds set out in Article 510 of the Civil Code, which include serious offences against the testator or the testator's family and serious violations of family-law obligations. A purported disinheritance outside these grounds is ineffective, and the protected heir retains the reserved-share entitlement.
- How is a will opened in Turkey? The will-opening procedure under Articles 596 to 600 of the Civil Code is conducted at the Civil Court of Peace of the deceased's last residence. The will is presented to the court, the court schedules the opening hearing, the will text is read into the record, and the will-opening minutes are produced. The procedure does not adjudicate validity, which remains a separate question.
- What is the certificate of inheritance? The certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi) under Article 598 of the Civil Code is the operative document identifying the heirs and their shares. It is issued by the Civil Court of Peace or, in straightforward cases, by a notary, and is required by banks, the Land Registry, and other asset-holding institutions before they will release or transfer estate assets.
- How is inheritance tax calculated in Turkey? Under the Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law (Law No. 7338), the tax is imposed on the heirs rather than on the estate, with the rate depending on the value of the inherited share and the relationship between the deceased and the heir. Closer relatives are subject to more favourable rates. The valuation base is the fair market value at the date of death.
- What is the deadline for filing the inheritance-tax declaration? The standard declaration period for deaths occurring in Turkey is four months from the date of death, with extended periods applicable where the death occurred abroad or where the heirs reside abroad. The declaration is filed with the Tax Office of the deceased's last residence in Turkey.
- Are foreign wills recognised in Turkey? Yes, subject to the conflict-of-laws rules in the Code on Private International Law. Article 22 accepts a will as formally valid if it complies with the law of the place of execution, the deceased's national law, or Turkish law. Article 20 applies the deceased's national law to movable property and Turkish law to immovable property in Turkey.
- How is real estate transferred to heirs? Through the Land Registry against the certificate of inheritance and the inheritance-tax clearance certificate. The Land Registry will not register the transfer to heirs without both documents, which means the tax filing and the asset-transfer steps run sequentially rather than in parallel.
- Can a will be revoked? Yes, at any time during the testator's lifetime if they retain capacity. Revocation can be effected through the execution of a new will containing an explicit revocation clause, through the physical destruction of the prior will with revocation intent, or through a subsequent will whose dispositions are inconsistent with the prior will to the extent of the inconsistency.
- What happens if a will is challenged? A will-validity challenge is heard by the Civil Court of First Instance under Article 557 of the Civil Code on three grounds: testamentary incapacity, defects of volition (mistake, fraud, duress, undue influence), or defects in the form of the will. The companion guide on will challenges in Turkey addresses the substantive grounds, evidence strategy, and procedural mechanics in detail.
About the Author
Av. Mirkan Günay Topcu is the managing partner of ER&GUN&ER Law Firm (Istanbul) and is registered with the Istanbul Bar Association under No. 67874. The firm advises foreign nationals, foreign-incorporated entities, and multinational legal teams on the full Turkish inheritance interface — drafting wills for foreign-resident testators with Turkish-located property, opening foreign and Turkish wills before the Civil Court of Peace, obtaining certificates of inheritance, the inheritance-tax filing under Law No. 7338, the asset-by-asset transfer to heirs through the Land Registry and the banking system, and the cross-border conflict-of-laws coordination on multi-jurisdictional estates.
The author works principally in English with foreign principals and home-jurisdiction counsel, with day-to-day case work covering the will-drafting practice for foreign testators, executor and heir representation through the post-death procedure, partition proceedings where co-ownership emerges among heirs, and the litigation-track work on will-validity challenges and reserved-share reduction actions.
Profile: LinkedIn. Foreign clients with related Turkish-located inheritance matters may also wish to read the companion guide on contesting a will in Turkey under TMK Article 557, which addresses the substantive grounds, evidence strategy, and procedural mechanics of the will-validity action in detail.
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