Check Disputes and Rights Arising from a Check
A check is a negotiable instrument that by law must be paid on sight and whose drawee is a bank. However, temporary statutory provisions may affect, in practice, the use of postdated checks and early presentment. In the content review of October 3, 2026, under the temporary provision in force, until December 31, 2028 presentment to the bank for payment before the issue date written on the check is invalid. Because provisions dated this way are open to legislative change, the current provision must be checked separately for each check.
In check disputes, the following are examined together:
- The mandatory elements of the check and its validity
- The status of the issuer, the payee, the endorser, the person giving the aval and the holder
- The issue date and the presentment period
- Presentment of the check within the period and to the competent bank
- The check account, the QR code and the bank records
- Full or partial payment
- The bank’s statutory liability amount
- The procedure for the “returned for lack of funds” notation
- The endorsement chain and the status of legitimate holder
- The allegation that the check was given as security
- Cancellation of a check, payment ban and recovery of a check
- Negative declaratory action, recovery of payment and precautionary attachment
- Enforcement on negotiable instruments and the routes of recourse against it
- The complaint and sanction process for a check returned for lack of funds
A check that is not presented within the period may affect the recourse rights specific to negotiable instruments law and the process for a check returned for lack of funds; however, this does not mean that a claim arising from the underlying relationship ends automatically in every case.
Checks Returned for Lack of Funds, Bank Transactions and the Criminal Process
That a check goes unpaid because there are insufficient funds in the account does not by itself automatically produce every civil and criminal consequence. Presentment of the check within the statutory period, the performance of the required procedure by the bank, the right to file a complaint and its time limit, the responsible person, and the payment and interest items must each be assessed separately.
In this context:
- Review of the bank’s presentment and “returned for lack of funds” records
- Partial funds and the bank’s statutory payment obligation
- Collection of the amount of the unpaid check
- Enforcement on negotiable instruments based on the check, and precautionary attachment
- The complaint concerning issuance of a check without funds
- Identifying the person entitled to file the complaint and the responsible natural person
- Review of management and representation authority for checks of legal entities
- The ban on issuing checks and on opening a check account
- Current conditions on payment, effective repentance (etkin pişmanlık) and the lifting of the ban
- Withdrawal of the complaint and its legal consequences
- Conducting the civil, enforcement and criminal files consistently with one another
are addressed. The criminal process does not by itself secure collection of the claim; nor does enforcement or a claim for the receivable by itself preserve the complaint periods. Each route of application must be pursued within its own conditions and time limits.
The Presentment Period and the Complaint Period Are Not the Same
Under Turkish Commercial Code Art. 796, a check payable in the place where it was issued is presented within ten days; a check payable elsewhere is presented within one month. Where different countries are involved, the same continent, a different continent and the special geographic rule in the law are taken into account. The period starts on the day after the issue date written on the check.
Early presentment of a postdated check
Under the temporary provision extended by Law No. 7566, Art. 31, until December 31, 2028 presentment for payment before the written issue date is invalid. This temporary rule and the ordinary presentment period must not be confused with each other.
Complaint for a check returned for lack of funds
Law No. 5941, Art. 5 and the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, Art. 347 are assessed together: the right to file a complaint must be exercised within three months of learning of the act and in any event within one year of the act. Presentment and the “returned for lack of funds” notation, the rightful holder, the date of learning and the responsible natural person are established with concrete documents. A company’s debt and criminal liability are not the same thing.
Bank liability and payment
The bank’s statutory payment obligation is checked against the presentment date and the relevant regulation of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (TCMB). Variable amounts should not be taken from old internet explanations. Partial payment, the remaining claim and the outcomes in the criminal file are assessed separately; a criminal complaint does not replace collection.