Applying a will drawn up in a foreign country in Türkiye requires separate reviews of the will’s formal validity, its content, its opening and the delivery of the property left. A foreign notary’s execution of the document, or a foreign court’s opening of the will, does not mean that the land registry record in Türkiye will change directly. [1] [2]
Under which law is validity examined?
Article 20 of Law No. 5718 on Private International and Procedural Law (MÖHUK) contains special rules on the form of, and capacity for, a mortis causa disposition. As to form, the connection under Article 7 and conformity with the deceased’s national law are considered; as to capacity to dispose, the national law at the time the disposition was made is considered. Applicable international conventions are checked separately. The application of Turkish law to the inheritance of immovable property in Türkiye does not mean that all questions of form will be resolved under the law of a single country alone. [1]
As to the substance, the heirs, the reserved portion and the effect of the disposition are determined separately. Does the will concern the entire estate, a specified proportion, or only a house? If wills have been drawn up in more than one country, it is examined whether the earlier disposition was revoked and whether the assets overlap.
Appointed heir and legatee
Leaving the whole estate or a specified proportion of it may amount to the appointment of an heir. Leaving a specific asset, by contrast, may give rise to a legacy claim. In the first, heirship and universal succession come into play; in the second, a claim for performance against the person under the obligation. The conclusion “the house is written in my name, so the title deed is now mine” is not correct for every disposition. [2]
This distinction affects the content of the certificate of inheritance, liability for debts and the land registry procedure to be applied. The existence of an executor of the will (vasiyeti yerine getirme görevlisi) likewise does not mean that he or she is the owner of all the assets; his or her authority is limited by the content of the duty and of the disposition.
Opening and notification in Türkiye
Where a will is found, its delivery to the competent authority, its opening and its notification to the interested persons come into play. The opening procedure is not a final judgment that the will is conclusively valid or that it does not infringe the reserved portion. Annulment, abatement and other claims are subject to their own conditions and time limits. [2]
The original of the foreign will or a copy in due form, its annexes, its translation and its certifications are prepared. If it was opened before a foreign court, the full text of the decision and the information on notification and on the decision becoming final are also obtained. A note merely stating “no objection was made” does not resolve every legal issue.
The distinction between recognition and enforcement in a real Court of Cassation decision
In the decision of the 7th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay 7. Hukuk Dairesi) dated February 19, 2024, E. 2023/1967, K. 2024/926, the will and the opening decision in Greece and the certificate of inheritance were examined separately. With respect to the will and its opening, the judgment was corrected by removing the wording on enforcement; with respect to the recognition and enforcement of the foreign certificate of inheritance, the judgment was reversed. [3]
The decision shows that recognition of an opening decision and delivery of an immovable in Türkiye are not the same thing. In addition, the res judicata character of the certificate of inheritance was assessed separately. For this reason, before the same result is requested for different documents in a single petition, the function of each document and the appropriate procedure must be determined.
Delivery or registration of the property
| Result sought | Issue to be resolved first |
|---|---|
| Documenting status as heir | Legal nature of the appointment and of the share |
| Collecting bank money | Right holder, co-ownership and tax |
| Transfer of a specific house | Legacy claim and the basis for registration |
| Effect of a foreign decision | Conditions for recognition or enforcement |
| Acts by the person charged with the duty | Limits of authority and of accountability |
If the person charged with the bequest does not make the delivery, an appropriate claim for performance or registration may be required. The defendant, the court with subject-matter jurisdiction and territorial jurisdiction are determined according to the nature of the claim. An interim injunction is assessed according to the risk of the immovable being transferred or the asset being lost. [4]
Time limits for annulment and abatement
Where Turkish law applies, annulment of a will and abatement are subject to different grounds and time-limit rules. The time limits running from learning and the outer time limits in Articles 559 and 571 of the Turkish Civil Code (TMK) are calculated together with the death, the opening and the type of disposition. Waiting for the will to be opened does not stop the running of the time limit for every kind of right. [2]
For annulment, capacity, defects of intent, unlawful content or form are examined; for abatement, infringement of the reserved portion is examined. Not every dissatisfied heir can bring the same action. The options for a claim of a person without a reserved portion and of a person entitled to a reserved portion may differ.
Why are all the annexes to a will requested?
A will made in a foreign country may sometimes have been amended by an additional disposition, limited to assets in a particular country, or may refer to an earlier will. A one-page summary or translation may not be enough to understand to whom the property is left. The main text, the annexes, later amendments and, if any, the revocation document must be examined together. It is not automatically accepted that a new document drawn up in one country revokes all the dispositions in the other country. [1]
The words “heir”, “administrator”, “legatee” and “executor” used in a translation may not denote the same authority in different legal systems. It is determined whether the holder of the document has a right to claim the asset in his or her own name or a duty to administer the estate. Where the content of foreign law needs to be established, recourse is had not merely to a dictionary equivalent but to the relevant rule of law. Article 2 of Law No. 5718 forms the framework of this examination in the proceedings. [1]
Which questions are resolved with respect to immovable property in Türkiye?
The first question is whether the will is formally valid. The second question is the capacity of the person making the disposition. The third question is what result the disposition produces for the immovable property in Türkiye under the provisions on inheritance and the reserved portion. These may be subject to different connecting rules. The application of Turkish law to the inheritance of immovable property in Türkiye does not lead to the conclusion that every will drawn up in a foreign country is invalid. [1]
The conditions of acquisition for a foreign person in whose favor a house is left are also examined separately. The validity of the will and the ability of the foreign person to keep the immovable in his or her own name are not the same question. The relevant limits of Land Registry Law No. 2644 and, where necessary, the liquidation provisions are assessed. This examination does not take the place of the distinction between an appointed heir and a bequest of a specific asset. [5]
When does a legatee’s claim arise?
Where Turkish law applies, a bequest of a specific asset, as a rule, gives rise to a personal right of claim against the person under the obligation. Article 600 of the Turkish Civil Code regulates when the claim falls due and the action available if it is not performed. The right holder cannot in every case withdraw bank money directly or change the land registry record by presenting a certificate of inheritance. Who the person under the obligation is, the condition of the will, the time of performance and whether the asset exists must be determined. [2]
For example, if only a specific house is left, it is not assumed that the legatee, like an appointed heir, is a universal successor with respect to all the debts of the estate. By contrast, the expression “half of my estate” may be characterized differently. The title “will” does not resolve this distinction; the text as a whole and the applicable law matter.
The ground of the objection determines the correct route of action
Where it is alleged that the testator lacked discernment, the health records at the date of execution and concrete conduct are significant. Where it is alleged that the reserved portion has been infringed, the net estate, the benefits to be added to the calculation and the disposable portion are calculated. The matters to be proved in the first and in the second are not the same. The absence of a ground for annulment does not necessarily mean that a claim for abatement will also be rejected. [2]
In Turkish law, in addition to the one-year time limit running from learning for the annulment action, the ten- and twenty-year outer time limits in Article 559 of the Turkish Civil Code, and for abatement the one- and ten-year time limits in Article 571, are assessed under their own conditions. The opening of the will, the right holder’s learning of it and the type of benefit conferred should be entered in a timeline. A single table of time limits starting only from the date of death does not cover all claims. For a legacy claim, the statute of limitations in Article 602 is also examined separately. [2]
Completing the implementation file
After a decision has been obtained on making a foreign decision effective in Türkiye, the procedure to be applied must be clear. Bank payment, land registry registration and delivery of movables are verified with separate documents. If there is an executor of the will, the scope of his or her authority and the duty to account are reviewed. If delivery is not made, instead of merely submitting the opening decision again, an appropriate claim to secure performance is framed.
The final record shows which clause of the will has been performed, which asset has been delivered, which tax or expense has been paid and which objections remain open. In this way, the difference between a will having been “opened” and having been “performed” also becomes visible on the file.
Which court is approached, and with which claim?
Opening a will, recognition of a foreign court decision and performance of a legacy debt are not the same action. In Turkish procedural law, opening a will falls within the remit of the civil court of peace (sulh hukuk mahkemesi) under non-contentious proceedings. For recognition or enforcement of a foreign judgment (ilam), the route before the court of first instance (asliye mahkemesi) provided for in Articles 51 and 58 of Law No. 5718 is assessed. A claim for performance or land registry registration based on a legacy claim, by contrast, requires its own examination of subject-matter and territorial jurisdiction. [1] [4]
In international inheritance actions, Article 43 of Law No. 5718 takes as its basis the deceased’s last place of residence in Türkiye; if there is no such place, the place where the assets forming part of the estate are located. For recognition or enforcement of a foreign judgment, the special order of jurisdiction in Article 51 is examined separately. For this reason, it is not sufficient to write only “enforcement of the will” in the heading of the petition: it must be explained whether what is sought is performance of a legacy debt under Turkish law or execution of a foreign judgment in Türkiye.
Defendant, court fees and interim protection
The claim must be directed at the person responsible for performing the right or at the interested persons the dispute requires. Bringing an action in the name of the deceased, naming the heirs incompletely or mistaking the executor of the will for the owner creates a procedural problem. Court fees and expenses are also determined according to the nature and value of the claim; it cannot be said that all will-related procedures are completed with the same fixed cost.
If there is a concrete record or correspondence showing that the house in Türkiye is about to be transferred, an interim injunction is assessed under the conditions of Article 389 of the Code of Civil Procedure (HMK) and the following articles. The existence of a will does not by itself ensure that an injunction is granted over every asset. The right to be protected, the danger of delay and prima facie proof must be explained; the scope of the injunction should be framed to match the result sought. [4]
Starting points and legal nature of the time limits
The table below is for the situation in which Turkish law applies. It cannot be transferred, without examination, to a claim governed by foreign law. The correspondence, notification or document by which learning took place should also be shown separately in the file. [2]
| Claim | Time limit and starting point | Critical distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Annulment of a mortis causa disposition | 1 year from learning of the disposition, the ground for annulment and the entitlement; 10 years against a defendant in good faith and 20 years against a defendant not in good faith, from the starting points in Article 559 of the Turkish Civil Code | Time limit for bringing an action (hak düşürücü süre); raising invalidity by way of a defense is reserved |
| Abatement | 1 year from learning that the reserved portion has been infringed; 10 years from the opening of the will for a will, and from the opening of the succession for other dispositions | Time limit for bringing an action; the revival of the earlier disposition and the provisions on defenses are also taken into account separately |
| Legacy claim | 10 years from learning of the benefit or, if the debt falls due later, from the due date | Statute of limitations under Article 602 of the Turkish Civil Code; not the same as the annulment and abatement time limits |
Limit of the Court of Cassation decision
The decision numbered 2024/926 examined above does not by itself guarantee the same result for all foreign wills. The explanations in the decision on the acquisition of immovable property tied to an earlier date of death, and on reciprocity, should not be carried over unchanged to every present-day file. The current substantive examination is made on the basis of Article 20 of Law No. 5718 and Article 35 of the Land Registry Law, to be applied to the specific acquisition. Moreover, in recognition, under Article 58 of Law No. 5718 the reciprocity condition in Article 54(1)(a) is not required; the conditions of recognition and enforcement are separated at this point. The result of the decision on its own facts should not be put in the place of the general rule of the statute. [1] [3] [5]
Conclusion
Applying a foreign will is a process that begins with the existence of the document and ends with registration or delivery. When form, capacity, type of appointment, opening and the effect of the foreign decision are resolved separately, the right action and institutional procedure can be selected.
Related articles: Estate Partition in Türkiye for Persons Living Abroad: Agreement, Power of Attorney and Completing the Transactions; Estate Procedures in Türkiye for Blue Card Holders and Dual Citizens; Why Can Inheritance Transfer Not Be Completed in Türkiye? Missing Documents, Institutional Refusal and Solutions; How Are Estate Procedures Handled Without Coming to Türkiye? Power of Attorney from Abroad and Remote Follow-Up; Is a Foreign Certificate of Inheritance Valid in Türkiye? Apostille, Court Decision and Method of Use.; Opening and enforcement of a will; Foreign documents in estate procedures; Inheritance Transfer in Türkiye for Foreigners and Persons Living Abroad
Frequently asked questions
Does a will made before a foreign notary carry no weight at all in Türkiye?
There is no such general rule; the applicable law and the conditions of form are examined.
Does an opening decision make the will conclusively valid?
No. Claims such as annulment and abatement may be assessed separately.
Is a house left by will transferred directly in the land registry?
Depending on the nature of the disposition and the basis for registration, an additional procedure or action may be required.
Is a foreign certificate of inheritance the same as an opening decision?
No. Their legal functions and the ways of using them in Türkiye differ.
Sources and legal bases
- Law No. 5718 on Private International and Procedural Law (Milletlerarası Özel Hukuk ve Usul Hukuku Hakkında Kanun)
- Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 (Türk Medeni Kanunu)
- 7th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay 7. Hukuk Dairesi), February 19, 2024, E. 2023/1967, K. 2024/926
- Law No. 6100 on Civil Procedure (Hukuk Muhakemeleri Kanunu)
- Land Registry Law No. 2644 (Tapu Kanunu)