Inheritance Law · Turkey

Turkish Inheritance Lawyer for Foreign Heirs

Turkish Inheritance Lawyer provides comprehensive legal assistance to heirs living abroad, including obtaining certificates of inheritance, completing tax clearance procedures, transferring title deeds, and resolving inheritance disputes in Turkey.

A relative died owning property or money in Turkey, and no bank, notary or Land Registry office will release anything to you. We act for heirs who live outside Turkey.

Talk to a Turkish Inheritance Lawyer: +90 530 936 94 64 Book a Legal Consultation

On the lists of lawyers published for their nationals by

British Embassy Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Canada

Antalya Bar Association, registration no. 9892

Verifiable on the Bar's own register.

Court filing within days

Once your apostilled documents reach us, we file at the Civil Court of Peace.

You never board a plane

One power of attorney lets us finish the estate without you.

Can a Foreign Heir Claim Property and Money in Turkey?

Quick answer

Yes. Turkish law applies to any immovable property in Turkey, whatever the deceased's nationality. You need a certificate of inheritance from a Turkish court, an inheritance tax declaration, then a Land Registry transfer. Where heirs agree it runs three to six months; where they do not, it becomes a court case. Cost tracks asset value and the number of heirs.

On This Page

02 Is This Your Situation? → 03 What Turkish Inheritance Law Says → 04 How a Turkish Probate File Runs → 05 What an Inheritance Case Costs → 06 Case Outcomes from Our Files → 07 Questions Foreign Heirs Ask →

Is This Your Situation?

An heir on paper, a stranger at the counter

Turkish institutions do not act on a foreign death certificate or a foreign grant of probate. Until a Turkish court issues a certificate of inheritance, no Turkish bank, notary or Land Registry office treats you as an heir. Article 598 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 puts that document with the Civil Court of Peace. Notaries issue it for Turkish citizens but decline whenever an heir holds a foreign passport, because the family tree cannot be read out of the population register.

What a Turkish inheritance lawyer actually does on your file:

Files the certificate of inheritance at the Civil Court of Peace and tracks it on the national court system
Finds what the deceased actually owned not what the family remembers
Files the inheritance tax declaration inside the Article 9 deadline in Law No. 7338 and gets the clearance letter the Land Registry demands
Puts a caution on the title deed when one heir moves to sell it behind the others' backs
Runs the partition case when co-heirs will not agree, and negotiates the buy-out that usually ends it

Situations we handle most weeks

"My father owned a flat in Alanya. The Turkish bank will not confirm the account exists."
"My mother's Turkish husband died. His children by his first marriage say she gets nothing."
"Four of us inherited a villa. Two want to sell, two refuse, nothing moves."
"My aunt died in Antalya years ago and a stranger is living in her apartment."
"My father signed his Turkish property to my brother for almost nothing, two years before he died."
"I signed papers at a Turkish notary after the funeral and nobody told me what they were."

What Turkish Inheritance Law Actually Says

Six provisions decide almost every foreign inheritance file in Turkey.

Which country's law applies

Law No. 5718, Article 20

Turkey's private international law code settles the point most families get wrong. Movable assets such as bank balances, shares, a car follow the law of the deceased's nationality. Immovable property in Turkey follows Turkish law, always, whatever passport the deceased held.

Article 20 of Law No. 5718 on mevzuat.gov.tr

Who counts as an heir

Civil Code Articles 495 to 500

Turkish succession moves in degree groups. Children and their descendants come first; failing them, the parents; then the grandparents. The surviving spouse inherits alongside whichever group exists: one quarter with children, one half with parents, three quarters with grandparents, and the whole estate if none survive.

Articles 495 to 500 of the Turkish Civil Code

Shares nobody can sign away

Civil Code Articles 505 and 506

A Turkish will cannot cut a child or a spouse out completely. Descendants keep half their statutory share, each surviving parent a quarter, and the spouse keeps the whole statutory share when inheriting beside children or parents. Only what is left after those protected shares can be freely given away.

If you were written out

Civil Code Articles 560 and 571

An heir whose protected share was breached sues for abatement, called tenkis: one year from learning of the breach, ten years from the opening of the will.

Articles 560 and 571 of the Turkish Civil Code

Estates that carry debt

Civil Code Article 606

Nobody is forced to accept a Turkish estate. A statutory heir has three months from the death to renounce at the Civil Court of Peace. Miss that window and the debts attach to you personally. Where the estate was plainly insolvent, Article 605 treats it as renounced automatically.

Article 606 of the Turkish Civil Code

Which courthouse hears it

Law No. 5718, Article 43

Where the deceased's last residence was outside Turkey, the case belongs to the court where the assets sit. For an apartment in Konyaaltı or a villa in Kaş that means the Antalya courthouse, not Istanbul and not a court abroad.

Article 43 of Law No. 5718 on jurisdiction

How a Turkish Probate File Runs, Stage by Stage

Two routes. Which one you are on depends on whether the other heirs agree.

Route one · heirs in agreement

Probate services for Turkish assets when nobody contests

Case review

You send the death certificate, your passport page and whatever you know: a title deed photo, a bank name, an address. We price the file only after that.

Power of attorney

You can issue it at a Turkish consulate or through a local notary with an apostille. If your country is not an Apostille Convention member, consular legalisation is required instead. See our guide on issuing a power of attorney abroad for use in Turkey.

Documents legalised

Death, birth and marriage certificates generally require an apostille, followed by a sworn Turkish translation certified by a Turkish notary. If the country is not an Apostille Convention member, consular legalisation is required instead.

Certificate of inheritance

We file at the Civil Court of Peace under Article 598.

Asset trace

If the estate is not fully known, we can file an asset determination lawsuit to identify the deceased’s assets, including real estate and bank accounts held in Turkey.

Inheritance tax declaration

Filed under Article 9 of Law No. 7338. The deadline is four, six or eight months from death, depending on where the person died and where the heirs live.

Tax clearance letter

The tax office issues the letter that unlocks the estate. The tax itself is paid in instalments over three years, each May and November.

Transfer and release

The district Land Registry registers the property in the heirs' names and the bank releases the balance. A sale can follow the same week.

Route two · heirs in conflict

Inheritance dispute resolution in Turkey

Freeze the asset first

We ask the court for an injunction and register a caution on the title deed, so no co-heir can sell or mortgage while the case runs.

Identify the claim

Abatement under Article 560 where a will or lifetime gift ate into your protected share. Annulment and re-registration of the deed where the property moved by collusive sale.

File and litigate

First-instance judgment on a contested estate typically lands twelve to twenty-four months in, plus roughly a year if the losing side appeals to the regional court of appeal.

Partition or auction

Where an estate cannot be split physically the Civil Court of Peace orders a public auction and divides the proceeds by share.

Files stall in three predictable places: an apostille on the wrong document, a power of attorney too narrow, and heirs with no Turkish tax number. We check all three before filing.

What an Inheritance Case in Turkey Costs

No Turkish lawyer may quote below the Minimum Attorney Fee Tariff that the Union of Turkish Bar Associations publishes in the Official Gazette each year.

Paid to the State, not to us

Court filing fees

Fixed tariff under Law No. 492

Inheritance tax

1% to 10% of each heir's share

Land Registry

Revolving fund service fee, reset annually

Notary and sworn translation

Per document, per page

How we charge

Uncontested estate

Fixed fee, agreed in writing

Contested estate

Fixed retainer plus a percentage

Percentage ceiling

25% of the disputed value, Law No. 1136 art. 164

What moves the total, in order of impact

1 · Do the heirs agree?

Litigation multiplies everything else

2 · How many properties

Each district registry is a separate filing

3 · How many heirs

Each heir needs their own legalised documents

4 · Was tax ever declared?

Late declarations carry penalty and interest

5 · Document condition

Apostilles already in place save weeks

Turkish inheritance tax is assessed on each heir's individual share, not on the estate as a whole, and the exemption for spouses and children is reset every January by general communiqué.

You will know the fee before we open a file

We read the death certificate and the asset list first, then put a fixed fee in writing for the uncontested route, or a fixed retainer plus an agreed percentage for a contested one.

Get a Fee Estimate

Case Outcomes from Our Inheritance Files

Anonymised, each with the obstacle that made it difficult, the working week of an inheritance law firm in Turkey.

The notary refused, the court did not

Three siblings, none of them Turkish citizens, inherited an apartment in Alanya. Two notaries declined the certificate of inheritance because the heirs could not be verified from the civil register. We filed at the Civil Court of Peace and obtained the certificate of inheritance afterwards the deed was registered in all three names.

A property moved before the widow was told

A widow in northern Europe found that her late husband's flat had been signed over to a relative for a fraction of its value, eighteen months before he died. We sued to annul the deed and return it to the estate.

Four heirs, two who would not sign

A villa on the Antalya coast sat frozen for years because two of four co-heirs refused to sell and the other two lived abroad. We filed a partition action at the Civil Court of Peace. Once the auction file opened, the reluctant heirs bought the other two out.

From Our Legal Guides

Turkish Inheritance Law Guides

Foreign heirs

Inheritance Rights of Foreigners in Turkey

Read the guide to foreign inheritance rights

Statutory shares

How Is Inheritance Distributed in Turkish Law?

See how Turkish law splits an estate

Asset tracing

4 Steps to Find Out If You Have an Inheritance in Turkey

Learn how to trace a Turkish estate

Title deed

3 Key Steps for Inheriting Property in Turkey

Follow the title deed transfer steps

Wills

5 Steps to Writing a Will in Turkey as a Foreigner

Read how to make a valid Turkish will

Tax number

Turkish Tax Number: Step-by-Step Guide to How to Apply

Get the tax number every heir needs

Questions Foreign Heirs Ask to Turkish Inheritance Lawyer

The eight that open almost every first call, from routine probate to a contested estate.

Can a foreigner inherit property in Turkey?

Yes. Foreign nationals inherit Turkish property on the same terms as citizens, subject to reciprocity and the military-zone limits on foreign ownership. UK, US and most European citizens inherit without difficulty. What stops people is paperwork: no Turkish institution acts until a Turkish court issues the certificate of inheritance.

How long does it take to transfer inherited property in Turkey?

Three to six months where every heir agrees and the foreign documents arrive apostilled. A contested estate runs one to two years.

Do I have to travel to Turkey to claim my inheritance?

No. One power of attorney, signed in Turkish consulate at your nearest Turkish consulate or through a local notary with an apostille with your photograph attached, lets a Turkish inheritance lawyer file the court application, submit the tax declaration, sign at the Land Registry and receive funds. If your country is not an Apostille Convention member, consular legalisation is required instead.

Is there inheritance tax in Turkey for foreigners?

Yes. Inheritance tax under Law No. 7338 is progressive, 1% to 10% of each heir's share rather than the whole estate, with an exemption for spouses and children reset each January. The declaration falls due four, six or eight months after death; the tax is paid over three years.

My father made his will in England. Does it work in Turkey?

Partly. Under Article 20 of Law No. 5718 an English will governs his movable assets, but land or an apartment in Turkey passes under Turkish succession rules whatever the will says, including the protected shares reserved for children and a spouse. A Turkish court must open the will first.

What happens if one heir refuses to sell the inherited property?

Any co-heir can force it, and this is where inheritance dispute resolution in Turkey usually starts. Article 642 of the Turkish Civil Code lets you apply to the Civil Court of Peace to end the joint ownership. Where the property cannot be divided physically, the court orders a public auction and splits the proceeds by share.

The estate has debts. Can I refuse it?

Yes, but the window is short. Article 606 of the Turkish Civil Code gives a statutory heir three months from the date of death to renounce, filed at the Civil Court of Peace. After that the debts follow you personally, wherever you live.

Do I need a Turkish inheritance lawyer, or can I do this myself?

You can, if you read Turkish, hold a Turkish tax number and can attend the court, the tax office and the Land Registry in person. Most heirs cannot, which is why probate services for Turkish assets are normally run under a power of attorney. A lawyer matters most where a notary refuses the certificate, a deadline has passed, or another heir moved first.

Title deed being transferred to foreign heirs at a Turkish Land Registry office in Antalya

Speak to a Turkish Inheritance Lawyer

Send us the documents and whatever you know about the assets. We will tell you which route your file is on, what it will cost and what the next deadline is.