When a person dies in Turkey, the legal status of their heirs does not become formally recognized through death alone. Before heirs can exercise their rights over the estate — transferring property, accessing bank accounts, initiating inheritance proceedings, or filing lawsuits in connection with the estate — they must obtain an official document confirming their status as heirs and specifying the proportion of the estate to which each is entitled. This document is known as the certificate of heirship, referred to in Turkish law as the mirasçılık belgesi and commonly known by its older designation, veraset ilamı. It serves as the foundational instrument of any inheritance process in Turkey and is a prerequisite for virtually all transactions involving the assets of a deceased person.
The legal basis for the certificate of heirship is found in Article 598 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721. The provision establishes who may request the certificate, which authorities are competent to issue it, and the procedural requirements that apply in different circumstances. The Turkish legislature has also granted notaries public the authority to issue this certificate in straightforward cases, a development that has significantly shortened the process for many applicants. However, the scope of notarial competence is not unlimited, and cases involving foreign nationals, contested heirship, or appointed heirs may still require a judicial proceeding.
Legal Basis and the Nature of the Certificate
Article 598 of the Turkish Civil Code: Upon application, persons determined to be statutory heirs shall be issued a certificate confirming their status as heirs by the civil court of peace or by a notary public. Unless a person claiming to be an appointed heir or a legatee under a testamentary disposition is contested by other heirs or legatees within one month of being notified of the disposition, a certificate confirming that person’s status as an appointed heir or legatee shall be issued by the civil court of peace. The invalidity of a certificate of heirship may be asserted at any time. The right to bring an action for the annulment of a testamentary disposition is reserved.
The certificate of heirship is not a constitutive document — it does not create the rights of heirship but rather confirms and evidences those rights that arise automatically upon the death of the decedent under Turkish succession law. Inheritance opens at the moment of death, and the heirs acquire their shares of the estate at that instant by operation of law. The certificate simply makes this legal status visible and verifiable to third parties such as land registries, banks, tax authorities, and courts.
Despite its declaratory nature, the certificate carries significant practical weight. It creates a rebuttable presumption of accuracy in favor of the person named in it. Third parties acting in good faith in reliance on the certificate are protected, and the burden of proving that the certificate does not reflect the true state of heirship falls on those challenging its content. This evidentiary function makes the certificate indispensable in inheritance-related transactions.
Who May Apply and Where
Any statutory heir, appointed heir, or legatee under a testamentary disposition may individually apply for the certificate of heirship. The application does not require the consent or participation of the other heirs. A single heir acting alone may obtain the certificate on behalf of the entire estate, and the document issued will identify all heirs and their respective shares.
In addition to the heirs themselves, creditors of the deceased may also seek the issuance of a certificate of heirship under Article 94 of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, where they need to identify the heirs in order to pursue enforcement proceedings against the estate. This is a practical mechanism that allows creditors to establish who bears succession liability for the decedent’s debts.
There are two authorities competent to issue the certificate: the Civil Court of Peace, known as the Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi, and a notary public. The amendment introduced by the Notaries Law that extended this authority to notaries has made it possible for heirs in straightforward cases to obtain the certificate far more quickly and with less procedural complexity than a court proceeding would involve. In practice, applicants who need a certificate urgently often prefer the notary route, as the notary can issue the certificate within a single day or a short number of days, whereas a court proceeding may take weeks or months depending on the workload of the relevant courthouse.
However, certain categories of cases fall outside the scope of notarial authority. The application must be directed to the Civil Court of Peace when the heirs include a foreign national, when the filiation of a potential heir has not been formally registered in the civil registry, when a will or other testamentary disposition is involved and the appointed heir is seeking the certificate, or when a previously issued certificate is being contested. In these situations, the notary lacks the authority to issue the certificate, and a judicial application is mandatory.
The Application Process Before the Court
An application for a certificate of heirship before the Civil Court of Peace is a non-contentious proceeding. It is initiated by submitting a petition to the court accompanied by the required documents. These typically include the death certificate of the deceased, family registry records obtained from the civil registry directorate, identity documents of the applicant, and in some cases witness statements to assist the court in establishing the family structure of the decedent.
The court examines the documents and, where necessary, conducts investigations through public registries to verify the identity and share of each heir. The judge does not conduct a formal adversarial hearing in the typical case. Once satisfied that the statutory heirs have been identified and their shares are clear, the court issues the certificate. The procedure is classified as a non-contentious jurisdiction matter, which means that no opposing party is named and the proceeding does not involve the litigation structures of ordinary civil cases.
The court has the authority to issue the certificate on its own motion in limited circumstances. Specifically, under the amendment introduced to the Land Registry Law, the land registry directorate may request the court to initiate heirship proceedings where a property registered in the name of a deceased person has not been transferred to the heirs within two years of the date of death. In such cases, the court may initiate the identification of heirs without waiting for a voluntary application.
Appointed Heirs and the One-Month Objection Period
When the decedent has left a will or other testamentary disposition designating an appointed heir or a legatee, a different procedural framework applies. The Civil Court of Peace that has custody of the will opens and reads it following the death of the testator. The persons affected by the disposition are then notified of its contents.
Upon notification, the other heirs and any other legatees have a period of one month to contest the appointment. If no contest is raised within this period, the court issues a certificate confirming the status of the appointed heir or legatee. If an objection is filed, the matter must be resolved through ordinary litigation, and the certificate is withheld until the dispute is settled.
It is important to note that the one-month objection period is separate from the right to bring an action for annulment of the testamentary disposition itself. Even after the certificate has been issued to an appointed heir, other interested parties retain the right to challenge the validity of the will through annulment proceedings before the competent Civil Court of First Instance. The issuance of the certificate does not operate as a final determination of the validity of the underlying disposition.
Legal Effect, Validity, and Use in Practice
The certificate of heirship has no expiry date. Once issued, it remains valid indefinitely unless it is subsequently cancelled or replaced by a new certificate following a court judgment. The certificate issued by either a notary or a court may be verified by third parties, and certificates issued by courts are accessible through the e-devlet government portal under the heirship certificate inquiry section. Certificates issued by notaries are not currently integrated into this portal and must be verified through other means.
The certificate is used across a wide range of transactions. Land registry directorates require it before processing the transfer of immovable property from the estate to the heirs. Banks will not grant heirs access to the decedent’s accounts without it. Tax authorities require it as part of the inheritance tax assessment process. Courts presiding over estate partition proceedings, actions for the recovery of assets allegedly diverted from the estate through fraudulent transfers, and other inheritance-related disputes treat the certificate as the starting point for establishing standing and identifying the parties.
Invalidity and Cancellation
The Turkish Civil Code explicitly provides that the invalidity of a certificate of heirship may be asserted at any time without any statute of limitations or time bar. This means that even decades after a certificate has been issued and relied upon, a person who believes that the certificate does not accurately reflect the true state of heirship may bring a legal action challenging it.
An action to cancel a certificate of heirship is a contentious proceeding, unlike the original application which was non-contentious. It must be filed before the Civil Court of First Instance, known as the Asliye Hukuk Mahkemesi, rather than the Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi that issued it. All persons named in the certificate as heirs must be joined as defendants, since a judgment on the validity of the certificate affects the shares of all parties named in it.
The most common grounds for cancellation in practice include the failure to include a rightful heir in the certificate, the incorrect calculation of inheritance shares, the subsequent discovery of a previously unknown testamentary disposition, the annulment of an adoption that had affected the heirship structure, and errors in civil registry records regarding the date of death or family relationships. The Court of Cassation has addressed numerous cases involving discrepancies between Turkish civil registry records and foreign official documents, particularly where the deceased was a citizen of another country or had family connections in multiple jurisdictions.
Foreign Nationals and Cross-Border Inheritance
Cases involving foreign nationals or international elements present particular procedural challenges. Where any of the heirs hold a foreign nationality or where the deceased died abroad or was a foreign national, the notarial route is unavailable and the application must be made to the Civil Court of Peace.
Documents originating from foreign countries must be authenticated before they can be submitted to Turkish courts or notaries. For countries that are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, the required authentication takes the form of an apostille endorsement affixed by the competent authority in the country of origin. Documents from countries not party to the Convention must instead bear the certification of the Turkish consulate or embassy in that country. All foreign-language documents must be translated into Turkish by a sworn translator certified by a Turkish notary.
Where the inheritance proceedings have already been concluded in a foreign country and a foreign certificate of heirship or equivalent document has been issued, this document does not automatically have legal effect in Turkey. A foreign heirship determination may need to go through recognition proceedings before the Turkish courts under the Act on International Private and Procedural Law before it can be relied upon in Turkish legal transactions. For properties registered in Turkey, the land registry directorate will generally require a Turkish certificate of heirship or a court decision recognizing the foreign proceeding before processing any transfer.
Inheritance Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu
Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, advising clients on inheritance law matters including the obtainment of certificates of heirship, estate administration, and contentious proceedings involving the cancellation of heirship certificates. His practice also covers inheritance disputes with a cross-border dimension, including cases where heirs or assets are located outside Turkey and where questions of applicable law and document authentication arise.
For all legal matters concerning Turkish law, you can reach out to Attorney Ozan Soylu. Legal consultancy and representation services are provided with a dedicated approach for foreign nationals. To submit your questions, contact us.
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