Turkish Inheritance Law for Foreign Nationals

When someone dies leaving assets in Turkey — an apartment on the coast, a share in a family building, a bank account — heirs living abroad meet a system that does not simply accept the paperwork issued in their own country. The estate is administered under Turkish rules, before Turkish authorities, on Turkish documents. The good news is that once the sequence is understood, almost every step can be taken from abroad, without setting foot in Turkey.

This guide follows that sequence: which law governs which part of the estate, where the Turkish certificate of inheritance comes from, what a foreign probate document can and cannot do, the restrictions that apply to foreign heirs of Turkish land, the deadlines that bite, and how a properly drafted power of attorney holds the whole process together.

Which Law Applies: the Split That Surprises Everyone

The applicable law is set by Turkish private international law — Act No. 5718 — and its succession provision, article 20, looks like one rule but in fact divides the estate:

Immovable property located in Turkey — land, apartments, shares in buildings — is governed by Turkish inheritance law, whatever the nationality or residence of the deceased. This is the exception written into article 20(1), and Turkish courts have exclusive jurisdiction over it.
Movable assets — bank accounts, vehicles, company shares, household goods — are in principle governed by the national law of the deceased at the time of death. That is the general rule.

The consequence is concrete. If a person dies as a German national, the German bank account is distributed under German succession law while the apartment in Antalya is distributed under Turkish law. Because reserved shares, the order of heirs and the spouse's share differ between the two systems, the same person's assets can be divided in different proportions in each country.

Where Turkish law governs, the estate passes to statutory heirs by classes: descendants first, then the parents and their descendants, then the grandparents and theirs. The surviving spouse inherits alongside whichever class is called, with a share that varies by class — one quarter beside children, one half beside the parents' class. Turkish law further protects descendants, parents and the surviving spouse with a reserved share — which a will can exceed, but only at the risk of being cut back after the death; a point returned to below.

Article 20 has a third limb that is regularly overlooked. The causes of the opening of the succession, its acquisition and its partition follow the law of the country where the estate is situated. In practice this means that the question of who inherits and in what shares, and the question of how the estate is actually acquired and divided, can be answered by two different laws.

Two further points decide many cases before the merits are reached. First, a person who holds Turkish nationality alongside another is treated by Turkish law (article 4 of Act No. 5718) as Turkish; the second nationality recedes, and the movable estate of a dual national therefore follows Turkish law. Second, where an estate in Turkey turns out to have no heirs at all, it passes to the Turkish State. That is the concrete price of inaction for distant heirs of someone who died abroad owning Turkish land.

Applying foreign law is not left to the parties. The Turkish judge applies the conflict-of-laws rules, and the foreign law they designate, of the court's own motion, and obtains the text of that law through the Ministry of Justice. This is one of the slowest stages of a file. Putting the relevant foreign-law material before the court yourself, at the outset, measurably shortens it.

Before Succession: the Matrimonial Property Regime

Where the deceased was married, there is a step that comes before inheritance law applies at all, and it is the step most often missed. The matrimonial property regime has to be wound up first. Whatever the surviving spouse takes out of that liquidation is not part of the estate and is not shared with the other heirs; only what remains is inherited.

Which law governs the regime is determined by article 15 of Act No. 5718 — in the absence of a choice of law and of a common nationality, by the law of the spouses' common habitual residence at the time of the marriage. For immovable property, however, the liquidation itself always follows the law of the country where the property lies.

For a surviving spouse this sequencing is often worth more than the inheritance share that follows it. It is worth establishing at the start of the file, not after the shares have been calculated.

When Two Certificates of Inheritance Are Needed

The most tangible consequence of the split is documentary. Where movables and immovables are governed by different laws, the shares may come out differently, and two separate certificates of inheritance may be required:

a certificate drawn up under Turkish law, for the immovable property in Turkey;
a separate certificate under the national law of the deceased, for the movable assets abroad.

This looks like duplicated bureaucracy; it is not optional. The Turkish land registry will transfer title only against a document showing the shares as Turkish law calculates them. A foreign court or notary document, drawn up under its own law and showing different shares, cannot simply be presented at the registry for a Turkish property.

Court, Not Notary: What a Foreign Element Changes

First, a doubt worth removing: being a foreign national is no obstacle to requesting a certificate of inheritance. Foreign nationals may apply. The question is not whether you can obtain the document but which door to knock on — and this is where most people go to the wrong one.

In Turkish law a certificate of inheritance can as a rule be obtained either from a civil court of peace (sulh hukuk mahkemesi) or from a notary. The notary route, however, is reserved for ordinary cases. As soon as the file contains a foreign element, the notary has no competence and the certificate can be issued only by the court. The typical triggers are:

one or more of the heirs is a foreign national;
the deceased was a foreign national;
the civil registry records contain a foreign element or a gap — heirs born abroad, late registrations;
the relationship of heirship has to be proved by foreign documents.

A single foreign heir is enough to close the notary route for everyone. Where all the heirs and the deceased are Turkish nationals, the certificate can be obtained from a notary or even online through e-Devlet; the moment one heir holds another country's passport, the matter goes to court.

The competent court is the civil court of peace; territorial jurisdiction generally lies with the court of the last domicile of the deceased or of the place where the property is situated. An heir abroad can conduct the case through a representative in Turkey, provided the power of attorney contains authority to request the certificate.

How the court establishes the circle of heirs

In files with a foreign element the court cannot determine the heirs from the Turkish civil registry alone; it must correspond with the consulate and the authorities of the country concerned. This is normally the longest stage of the case, and it is the stage the heirs themselves can shorten most: foreign civil-status and succession documents placed on the file at the outset save months of correspondence.

Security for Costs, Where a Case Has to Be Brought

Where the estate has to go through a contested case in Turkey — partition of a jointly owned property, an abatement claim against a lifetime transfer, a title cancellation action — one cost is regularly left out of the estimate. Article 48 of Act No. 5718 requires a foreign claimant who brings a case, intervenes in one or starts enforcement before a Turkish court to provide security fixed by the court. Article 84(1)(a) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Act No. 6100) requires the same of a Turkish citizen whose habitual residence is not in Turkey. Both provisions are written for bringing a case, intervening, or enforcing. Under Article 88, security not provided within the period the judge sets ends the case: it is dismissed on procedural grounds.

There are exemptions, and heirs abroad are often inside them. For a foreign national, Article 48(2) directs the court to exempt on the basis of reciprocity, and for most European claimants that reciprocity is in a treaty: Article 17 of the 1954 Hague Convention on Civil Procedure bars security from nationals of a Contracting State who are domiciled in a Contracting State. Germany has been a party since 1960, Türkiye since 1973. For a Turkish citizen living abroad the route is Article 85 instead, which forbids security where the claimant holds immovable property in Turkey sufficient to cover it — which, in an inheritance case about Turkish real estate, is frequently the position after the estate is registered. Neither exemption applies by itself; the court rules on security of its own motion, so the ground belongs in the first submission.

Why Your Foreign Probate Document Is Not Enough

A German Erbschein, an English grant of probate, a French acte de notoriété — none of these takes effect in Turkey by itself. A foreign court decision produces no effect in Turkey until it has been through one of two separate Turkish proceedings:

Recognition (tanıma) — the foreign judgment is accepted in Turkey as res judicata and as conclusive evidence. This is what arises where a relationship of heirship has been established abroad.
Enforcement (tenfiz) — the foreign judgment becomes executable in Turkey. This is required where the decision orders performance, such as a payment.

Both are separate actions before a Turkish court and both depend on the conditions in Act No. 5718: the decision must be final, it must not offend Turkish public policy, and the rights of the defence must not have been violated. Our guide to recognition and enforcement sets out the procedure in full.

Practical rule: do not try to have a foreign document recognised in order to deal with Turkish real estate. Since the property is governed by Turkish law in any event, a certificate of inheritance obtained directly from the Turkish civil court is both faster and more certain. Recognition belongs to the special cases where the foreign decision itself must be accepted in Turkey.

One trap deserves separate mention. If a foreign divorce was never recognised in Turkey, the Turkish civil registry still shows the marriage as subsisting. On the death of either former spouse the other appears, on the face of the register, to be an heir — with everything that follows for the certificate of inheritance and for the land registry.

Foreign Heirs and Turkish Real Estate

A foreign national may in principle inherit Turkish real estate, but not without limits. Heirs who have retained Turkish nationality, and holders of the mavi kart (blue card), fall outside these limits altogether and are treated as Turkish nationals for this purpose. The restrictions bite only on heirs with no remaining link to Turkish nationality:

Eligible nationality. The heir's nationality must be among those permitted by presidential decision to acquire immovable property in Turkey.
Military and security zones. Property in these zones cannot be acquired by foreign nationals. Where such a property falls to a foreign heir by succession, it is liquidated and converted into a monetary claim.
Area and ratio limits. There is a national ceiling on the area one foreign national may hold, and a rule that foreign ownership may not exceed a set proportion of the privately owned land in any one district.

The reach of these limits is narrower than it is usually assumed to be. They apply to immovable property only. There is no equivalent obstacle to a foreign national inheriting bank accounts, vehicles, shares or claims; on the movable side, foreign heirs are on the same footing as Turkish ones.

An heir who runs into one of these limits does not lose the inheritance. Where the property itself cannot be held, its value is paid out instead: the right is realised as money rather than as ownership. The real question for a foreign heir is therefore rarely "can I inherit at all" but "will I receive the property or its value". For heirs who kept Turkish nationality, or hold a blue card, the question does not arise: the property is registered directly in their name.

Reciprocity: Why the Date of Death Decides

This is the point on which heirs abroad are most often misinformed, because the rule changed in 2012 and which version applies is fixed by the date the deceased died.

Law No. 6302, in force on 18 May 2012, amended article 35 of the Land Registry Law and abolished the requirement of reciprocity, replacing it with the system of countries designated by decision of the executive. But succession opens at the moment of death, and the regime applicable to the acquisition is frozen at that date. The Court of Cassation has consistently held that reciprocity is examined as at the date the estate opened — that is, the day of death.

The practical dividing line: if the deceased died before 18 May 2012, the court will investigate whether reciprocity existed between Turkey and the country concerned on that date, usually by enquiry through the Ministry of Justice. If the death occurred after that date, reciprocity is irrelevant and the only question is whether the heir's nationality is on the permitted list. Deaths in the 1990s and 2000s where the title was never transferred are common in families settled abroad, which is why this distinction decides so many files.

Death Abroad: Apostille, Translation, Registration

Where the deceased died abroad, the process begins with a chain of documents. For a foreign death certificate to be usable in Turkey, two steps are needed:

Apostille. If the issuing country is a party to the 1961 Hague Convention — Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria, the United Kingdom and many others are — the competent authority of that country affixes an apostille. If the country is not a party, the document is certified by the Turkish consulate there.
Sworn translation. The apostilled document is translated in Turkey by a sworn translator and the translation is certified by a notary.

The same chain applies to every foreign document that establishes the relationship of heirship: civil registry extracts, marriage certificates, birth certificates.

One step is easy to miss because nothing prompts it. A death abroad is not automatically reflected in the Turkish civil registry; it is normally notified through the Turkish consulate. Until the death appears in the Turkish records, the certificate of inheritance and the land registry transfer can both stall. This notification is the first link in the chain, not an afterthought.

Renouncing an Inheritance: the Three-Month Deadline

Renunciation is subject to a three-month forfeiture period. For statutory heirs it runs from the date they learn that they are heirs. If the inheritance is not renounced within that period, it is deemed accepted — together with its debts.

For heirs abroad this creates a particular risk. Where the deceased left an insolvent estate, the heir abroad usually learns of it late, and having learned of it postpones matters on the reasoning that they cannot travel to Turkey. That reasoning is wrong on both counts:

Renunciation does not require travel. The declaration can be made through the Turkish consulate in your country of residence, or by a representative in Turkey acting under a power of attorney. The power of attorney must contain express and specific authority to renounce; a general authority will not do.
The clock starts on knowledge. When an heir abroad is treated as having learned of their status is assessed on the facts of the case — but relying on that uncertainty is a poor strategy.

There is a fallback if the three months have already passed. Where the deceased was manifestly insolvent, or their insolvency was officially established, at the moment of death, the inheritance is deemed renounced, and a declaration to that effect can be sought at any time, without a deadline. It usually surfaces when creditors begin enforcement. So an heir who has missed the deadline is not without a remedy — but an actual renunciation, made in time, is always safer than litigating a deemed one.

Inheritance Tax and the Extended Deadlines

Turkey levies inheritance and gift tax at progressive rates — currently between 1 and 10 per cent — above an exemption per heir that is adjusted annually. By comparison with many European systems the burden is modest; the work lies in the declaration and the valuation. A declaration must be filed, and the period depends on where the death occurred and where the heir lives:

Situation	Period for the declaration
Death in Turkey, heir in Turkey	4 months
Death abroad, heir in Turkey	6 months
Death in Turkey, heir abroad	6 months
Death abroad, heir in the same country as the deceased	4 months
Death and heir in different foreign countries	8 months

The extended periods look generous, but an heir abroad also needs that time to assemble apostilles, translations and civil registry records, so in practice they are tight. Missing the deadline does not make the tax go away: the principal remains and a penalty and late-payment interest are added. The tax may be paid in instalments over several years, and it must be settled before inherited real estate can be transferred or sold.

A common misconception is that living abroad means owing nothing to Turkey. Inheritance and gift tax attaches to the transfer of the asset in Turkey, not to the residence of the heir. An heir abroad who inherits Turkish property is liable for it, and the land registry will not register the transfer until the declaration has been filed.

However the deceased arranged matters, Turkish law keeps a fixed proportion of the Turkish immovable for descendants, parents and the surviving spouse. It does so without striking the arrangement down: the protected heirs are given the right to have it cut back. A disposition that goes beyond the freely disposable portion is therefore not the last word on the Turkish apartment — the other heirs keep their reserved shares and may bring an action for abatement (tenkis) to recover them.

The fractions, the position of a testamentary disposition made abroad, and the Turkish formal requirements are a subject of their own and are set out separately in Last Will and Testament in Turkey: Wills and Forced Heirship. This page assumes no disposition was made and follows the statutory order instead.

A related problem arises where property was moved out of the estate before death — a transfer dressed as a sale but in truth intended to defeat the heirs. Turkish law treats this as collusion by the deceased (muris muvazaası), and the action is subject to no forfeiture period. For an heir abroad who discovers the position years later, this is often the most valuable remedy available.

Running the Whole Process by Power of Attorney

Nearly every step described above — the certificate of inheritance, the renunciation, the tax declaration, the partition, the land registry transfer — can be carried out without travelling to Turkey, through a correctly drafted power of attorney. What matters is that the document contains the specific authorities the work requires:

to request the certificate of inheritance;
to renounce the inheritance (this requires express, specific authority);
to deal with the estate, obtain its determination and conclude a partition agreement;
to file tax declarations and handle assessment and payment;
to transfer immovable property and execute the conveyance at the land registry (transfer of property requires specific authority);
to bring proceedings, appoint a substitute and take part in mediation.

If one authority is missing the process stops and a fresh round of drafting, signing and legalisation begins abroad — a delay measured in weeks. Whether the power of attorney should be executed at a Turkish consulate or before a foreign notary with an apostille, and the mistakes that most often send documents back, are covered in our power of attorney guide. The success of an estate file depends to a large degree on that one document being right at the first attempt.

Attending a hearing in person is usually unnecessary. Under article 149 of the Code of Civil Procedure the court may allow parties or their representatives to take part in a hearing by video link from where they are. Where an heir abroad must be heard personally, this can be requested — but the request has to be made expressly in the pleadings.

Handling an Estate from Abroad, Step by Step

Notify the death to the Turkish civil registry, through the Turkish consulate, if the death occurred abroad.
Collect the civil-status documents in your own country — death certificate, proof of kinship or marriage — and have them apostilled.
Grant a power of attorney to a Turkish lawyer covering the certificate of inheritance, the land registry transfer, tax filings and, if there is any doubt about the estate's solvency, express authority to renounce.
Obtain the Turkish certificate of inheritance from the civil court; sworn translations are arranged in Turkey.
File the inheritance tax declaration within the applicable period and register the transfer of title to the heirs at the land registry.
Then decide freely: keep, let, sell, or divide. Where co-heirs cannot agree, Turkish law provides a judicial partition action in which the property is divided or sold at auction — a route of last resort, but an effective one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my foreign probate document (Erbschein, grant of probate) valid in Turkey?

Not directly. It has no automatic effect. For Turkish assets you need a Turkish certificate of inheritance issued by a Turkish civil court; your foreign documents are used as evidence, with apostille and sworn translation. Recognition of the foreign decision is possible in some cases but is usually slower than obtaining the Turkish certificate directly.

Which law decides who inherits property in Turkey?

Turkish law, for real estate located in Turkey — regardless of the nationality of the deceased. Movables are in principle governed by the deceased's national law, and a dual national who was also a Turkish citizen is treated by Turkish law as Turkish. The same estate can therefore be distributed under two different sets of rules, and two certificates of inheritance may be needed.

Can a foreign national inherit property in Turkey?

As a rule yes. Being a foreign national is no obstacle to being an heir. What is restricted is continued registered ownership: the nationality must be on the permitted list, the property must not lie in a military or security zone, and area and ratio ceilings apply. Where the property cannot be held, its value is paid to the heir instead. Heirs who kept Turkish nationality, and blue card holders, fall outside these limits.

My father died in 2008. Does the old reciprocity requirement still matter?

Yes. Reciprocity was abolished on 18 May 2012, but succession opens on death and the applicable regime is fixed at that date. For a death before 18 May 2012 the court examines whether reciprocity existed between Turkey and the country concerned on the day of death, usually through an enquiry to the Ministry of Justice. For a later death the question does not arise.

Can I get the certificate of inheritance from a notary instead of going to court?

Only if there is no foreign element at all. Where every heir and the deceased are Turkish nationals, a notary — or even the e-Devlet portal — can issue it. If any heir is a foreign national, if the deceased was, or if the civil registry records contain a foreign element or a gap, the notary has no competence and the certificate comes from the civil court of peace. One foreign heir is enough to produce that result.

Can I refuse an inheritance in Turkey, and is there a deadline?

Yes — within three months, declared to the Turkish court, generally counted from when you learned you are an heir. It can be done from abroad, through the Turkish consulate or by an attorney holding a power of attorney with express renunciation authority. After the deadline the estate, debts included, is deemed accepted, although an estate that was manifestly insolvent at the date of death is deemed renounced and that can be established at any time.

Is there inheritance tax in Turkey, and does living abroad exempt me?

There is, at progressive rates currently between 1 and 10 per cent above an annually adjusted exemption, payable in instalments. Living abroad does not exempt you: the tax attaches to the transfer of the Turkish asset, not to your residence. The declaration period is four months where the death and the heir are in the same country — which includes a death in Germany with heirs living there — six months where only one of the two is abroad, and eight months only where the death and the heir are in different foreign countries. The land registry will not transfer title before the declaration is filed.

The property was sold shortly before the death. Is there anything to be done?

Often, yes. Where a transfer was dressed as a sale but was in truth intended to keep the property away from the heirs, Turkish law treats it as collusion by the deceased (muris muvazaası) and the transfer can be set aside as to the heir's share. Two features make it valuable to an heir abroad: the claim is not subject to any forfeiture period, so a discovery made years later is not too late, and it does not depend on the heir having a reserved share.

Can the whole estate be settled without my coming to Turkey?

Yes. The certificate of inheritance proceedings, the renunciation, the tax declaration, the partition and the land registry transfer can all be conducted by a representative in Turkey under a power of attorney, provided each of those authorities appears separately in the document. Where you must be heard in person, the court may permit participation in the hearing by video link on request.

For an assessment of a specific estate, write to info@arifgolcan.av.tr with the death certificate, a list of the Turkish assets you know of, and the family situation, or use the contact form. A written road map setting out the deadlines that are already running is the usual first step.

This guide is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Deadlines, tax rates and exemptions change by legislation; verify the current position for your specific case before acting.

Turkish Inheritance Law for Foreign Nationals: Inheriting Property in Turkey