The general lease rules are set out in Articles 299 to 378 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (TBK). The special rules for residential leases and leases of roofed workplaces are in Articles 339 to 356. Where the two conflict, the special rules prevail, as they are designed mainly to protect the tenant.

Scope of the Protective Rules

The special protections apply to dwellings used for housing and to roofed workplaces. They apply to both fixed-term and indefinite-term leases, whether in writing or verbal. Turkish law does not require a written lease for validity, but a written agreement is practically indispensable. It is the reliable way to prove the lease terms, the condition of the property at handover, and any special arrangements.

Essential Contents of the Agreement

Parties. Include full names, addresses, and identification numbers for both landlord and tenant. For a company, include its trade name, tax number, and authorized signatory. For a foreign tenant, include passport details and any residence permit number.

Property. Describe the property so that it can be uniquely identified: full address, floor and apartment number, title deed parcel and block numbers where available, and any appurtenant areas such as a parking space, storage room, or garden.

Rent. Rent must be stated in Turkish Lira. Foreign-currency rent is restricted for residential properties where both parties are Turkish residents. State the payment date, the payment method, and the bank account to which payments are made. This creates a record that the tenant can use to prove timely payment.

Term. The parties may agree on a fixed or indefinite term. Most residential leases in Turkey are concluded for one year and renew automatically unless a statutory termination condition applies.

Rent Increases

Under Article 344 TBK, an agreed rent increase on renewal is valid only up to the twelve-month average change in the consumer price index (CPI) for the preceding lease year. Any excess is void. Parties may agree on a lower increase freely.

The CPI ceiling and its application after a long tenancy should be reviewed against the current statutory text before the agreement is finalized.

Security Deposit

Under Article 342 TBK, the security deposit (güvence bedeli) for residential leases may not exceed three months’ rent. Any excess is void, and the tenant may demand the return of amounts paid above the cap.

If the deposit is paid in money, Article 342 requires it to be held in an interest-bearing savings account opened in the tenant’s name. It may not be withdrawn without the written consent of both parties or a final court order. A landlord who keeps the deposit personally rather than in the required account is in breach of this requirement and may be liable for resulting loss.

Mandatory Protections

Under Article 343 TBK, terms disadvantageous to the tenant may not be changed during the lease, except with respect to the rent amount. A landlord cannot unilaterally add tenant obligations during the tenancy or reduce the tenant’s rights.

Clauses that are frequently void include:

• Passing building-wide maintenance costs that are legally the landlord’s responsibility to the tenant
• Late-payment penalties beyond the statutory default interest
• Entry to the property without prior notice

Eviction Commitment

An eviction commitment (tahliye taahhütnamesi) is a document in which the tenant agrees to vacate by a specified date. It is valid only if signed after the lease agreement has come into force. A commitment signed together with the lease, or as a condition of concluding it, may be treated as given under duress and found unenforceable. It should therefore be a separate document, dated after the lease commencement date.

Guarantors

A guarantee must comply with Article 583 TBK. The guarantor must write, in their own hand, the maximum amount guaranteed, the date of the guarantee, and, where applicable, the statement of joint and several liability. A guarantee lacking these handwritten elements is not validly given, even if the lease itself is valid.

Property Condition Report

Although not strictly required by statute, a detailed condition report signed by both parties and supported by dated photographs is one of the most useful documents in a tenancy. It records fixtures, appliances, paintwork, flooring, and existing damage at handover. Without it, disputes over damage and the security deposit are difficult to resolve.

Foreign Parties

Leases involving foreign landlords or tenants follow the same legal rules as domestic leases, and rent must still be in Turkish Lira. Where a foreign landlord lives abroad, the agreement should state how rent will be received and whether a local representative is authorized to act for them.

Legal Support

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer in Istanbul advising landlords and tenants on lease drafting and review, deposit disputes, eviction commitments, and lease-related litigation. Legal consultancy and representation are available for foreign clients as well. For questions on lease matters under Turkish law, contact our office.

The post Lease Agreement in Turkey, How to Prepare first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

Turkish law treats the transfer of real property as an act that requires a special and explicit grant of authority. The general principle of representation under the Turkish Code of Obligations permits a person to act on behalf of another in legal transactions, but not all acts fall within the scope of a general mandate. Transferring, encumbering, or otherwise disposing of real property is an act of exceptional significance, and the law requires that the power of attorney used for such transactions reflect this significance in both form and content.

The Legal Basis for Property Transactions Through a Representative

The foundational rules governing agency relationships and the limits of representative authority in Turkish law are set out in Articles 502 through 514 of the Turkish Code of Obligations. Of these, Article 504 is the most directly relevant to property transactions. This article establishes that unless explicitly authorized, a representative may not transfer real property, encumber it with a lien or mortgage, or create any other real right over it. The disposition of immovable property therefore falls into the category of acts that require a special and express grant of authority, separate from any general mandate that might already exist between the parties.

Article 504 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098: Unless specifically authorized to do so, the agent may not file a lawsuit, reach a settlement, submit to arbitration, request bankruptcy, make a commercial paper commitment, make a donation, act as a guarantor, transfer real property, or encumber real property with a limited real right.

This provision means that a person holding only a general power of attorney covering everyday matters — such as banking, utility subscriptions, or administrative procedures — cannot use that document to sell or mortgage the principal’s property at the Land Registry. The power of attorney must specifically and unambiguously include the authority to perform the type of transaction involved. If it does not, the Land Registry will refuse to process the transaction.

Form and Content Requirements for the Power of Attorney

Turkish law requires that a power of attorney used for real property transactions be executed before a notary public. This formal requirement is not merely procedural. The notary’s role is to verify the identity of the person granting the authority, to confirm their legal capacity, and to ensure that the document is executed voluntarily and with full understanding of its content. The notary also affixes an official seal and registers the document in the national notarial records system.

In addition to notarial execution, the power of attorney used for property transactions at the Land Registry must include a photograph of the person granting the authority. This photograph requirement was introduced to assist Land Registry officers in verifying that the document genuinely originates from the person whose name appears on it, and to reduce the risk of identity fraud. A power of attorney without a current photograph is not accepted for use in Land Registry proceedings.

The document must clearly identify the type of transaction that the representative is authorized to perform. A power of attorney drafted for a sale transaction should specifically state the authority to sell, the authority to receive the purchase price, and if relevant the authority to deliver possession of the property. A power of attorney intended for mortgage purposes should specify the authority to encumber the property with a lien in favor of a named or determinable creditor. The more precisely the scope of the authority is defined, the less room there is for dispute about whether a particular act was within the agent’s mandate.

While the law does not generally impose a validity period on powers of attorney, the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre recommends that powers of attorney older than ten years be renewed before use, as the passage of time may raise questions about whether the circumstances that led to the grant of authority still exist. However, under the settled position of the General Directorate and consistent with the Court of Cassation’s case law, age alone does not invalidate a power of attorney provided that none of the statutory grounds for termination have occurred.

Authorizing Specific Properties Versus General Authorization

A recurring practical question in property transactions is whether the power of attorney must name the specific property to be transferred or whether a general authorization over all of the principal’s real estate is sufficient. Turkish law permits both approaches, but the more specific the authorization, the clearer the legal basis for the transaction and the lower the risk of subsequent disputes.

A broadly worded power of attorney may authorize the representative to sell or encumber any property owned by the principal within Turkish territory. This approach provides flexibility when the principal is unsure which properties may need to be transferred, or when multiple transactions are anticipated. However, it also creates a wider scope for potential abuse, since the representative is technically authorized to act with respect to all of the principal’s property portfolio. Where only a specific transaction is contemplated, it is preferable to name the particular property by its land registry parcel number, district, and province, thereby confining the agent’s authority to the identified asset.

The power of attorney may also include a sub-delegation clause, known as tevkil yetkisi, which allows the representative to appoint a substitute agent. This is relevant where the representative may be unavailable to attend the Land Registry on the scheduled date and wishes to delegate the execution of the deed to another person. The original power of attorney must explicitly grant this sub-delegation right, as it does not arise automatically from a general mandate. It is worth noting that the Land Registry keeps the original power of attorney on file after the transaction is completed. If the same document needs to be used at multiple registry offices or for multiple transactions, the principal should obtain certified copies of the original from the notary.

Obtaining a Power of Attorney from Abroad

Property owners who reside outside Turkey frequently need to grant someone in Turkey the authority to manage or transfer their property. Turkish law provides two recognized pathways for obtaining a valid power of attorney from abroad. The first is to attend the Turkish Consulate or Embassy in the country of residence. Turkish consular offices are authorized to perform notarial functions for Turkish citizens abroad, and a power of attorney executed at a consulate carries the same legal force within Turkey as one issued by a domestic notary. No further authentication or apostille is required for consular documents.

The second pathway is to execute the document before a notary public in the foreign country. In this case, the document must be certified with an apostille in accordance with the Hague Convention on Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, to which Turkey is a party. Once the apostille is affixed, the document must be translated into Turkish by a sworn translator and the translation must itself be notarized. Only after these steps have been completed will the Land Registry accept the document as a valid basis for the transaction.

Foreign nationals who own property in Turkey and wish to grant a power of attorney to a Turkish representative must follow the same procedure, adapting it to the requirements of their own country’s notarial system. The Turkish Land Registry has issued circulars clarifying the standards that foreign-issued powers of attorney must meet, and the requirements regarding the photograph of the principal and the specificity of the property-related authorization apply equally to documents issued abroad.

The Title Deed Transfer Process at the Land Registry

Once a valid power of attorney has been obtained, the representative attends the Land Registry Directorate serving the district where the property is located and requests the registration of the transfer. The documents required for this procedure include the original power of attorney, the representative’s own identity document, the title deed or parcel information for the property, the municipality’s statement of the property tax value, compulsory earthquake insurance for residential buildings, and in transactions involving foreign buyers, the property valuation report and the foreign exchange purchase certificate.

The Land Registry officer reviews the power of attorney to confirm that it is current, properly executed, includes the required photograph, and grants the specific authority needed for the transaction at hand. If any deficiency is identified, the transaction is suspended until the deficiency is corrected. The officer then processes the deed, and the transfer is registered in the land register. At this point ownership legally passes to the buyer. Turkish law is clear that informal agreements, private contracts, or even notarized preliminary sale agreements do not transfer ownership of real property. Only registration at the Land Registry is legally constitutive of property rights.

Termination and Revocation of the Power of Attorney

A power of attorney for property transactions may come to an end through several events defined in the Turkish Code of Obligations. The death of either the principal or the agent terminates the mandate as a matter of law, unless the document expressly provides that it shall survive the principal’s death. If the principal loses legal capacity through a court decision or medical incapacity, the mandate also terminates. Bankruptcy of either party, resignation by the agent, or revocation by the principal likewise brings the relationship to an end.

Revocation, known as azil, does not require any particular form under Turkish law. The principal may revoke the power of attorney at any time by giving notice to the agent. However, for the revocation to be effective against third parties — including the Land Registry — it is strongly advisable to notify the Land Registry Directorate of the revocation in writing and to obtain confirmation that the notification has been recorded. A revocation that is not communicated to third parties who deal with the agent in good faith may not be enforceable against them, which can leave the principal exposed to transactions they no longer wish to authorize.

Abuse of Authority and Fraudulent Transfers

The risks associated with property transfers through powers of attorney arise primarily from two scenarios: the representative exceeding the scope of the authority granted, and the use of a forged or fraudulently obtained power of attorney by a person who was never actually authorized by the property owner. Both scenarios can result in a property being transferred without the genuine consent of the owner, and both are addressed through specific provisions of Turkish property law.

Article 1023 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721: A third party who acquires ownership or another real right in good faith, relying on the entry in the land register, shall have that acquisition protected.

The protection of good faith third parties under Article 1023 of the Turkish Civil Code is the central tension in cases of fraudulent property transfer. Where a representative acting under a forged power of attorney transfers property to a buyer who had no knowledge of the forgery and no reason to suspect it, the buyer’s acquisition may be protected against cancellation if the buyer acted in good faith and relied on the land register entry. The original owner loses the property and is left with a claim for compensation against the perpetrator of the fraud.

However, this protection does not extend to the immediate recipient of a fraudulent transfer. A person who acquires property directly from a forged or unauthorized power of attorney cannot invoke the good faith protection of Article 1023, because that person is the first link in the fraudulent chain. It is only subsequent buyers, who acquired the property from this person in reliance on the land register and without knowledge of the underlying fraud, who may claim protection.

Where a title registration is challenged on the grounds of a forged power of attorney, the property owner may bring a title cancellation and re-registration lawsuit before the civil court. The court examines the authenticity of the power of attorney, the scope of the authority it purported to grant, and the good faith of any subsequent transferees. Where the forgery is established and the immediate transferee acted in bad faith, the title is cancelled and re-registered in the name of the original owner. The state bears liability for title registry errors under Article 1007 of the Turkish Civil Code, which may also provide a basis for compensation where the Land Registry failed to detect a forged document that should have been identified through proper scrutiny.

Real Estate Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, advising property owners and buyers on power of attorney procedures, Land Registry transactions, and legal remedies in cases of unauthorized or fraudulent property transfers under Turkish law. His practice covers the preparation of legally compliant powers of attorney for domestic and overseas clients, representation in title cancellation and re-registration disputes, and legal support throughout the property acquisition and transfer process in Turkey.

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.

The post Transferring Property in Turkey Through a Power of Attorney first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The judicial fine in Turkish law is not a flat penalty applied uniformly to all defendants convicted of the same offense. It is a sanction calibrated both to the gravity of the conduct and to the individual economic circumstances of the offender. This dual structure is the defining architectural feature of the mechanism introduced by Article 52 of the Turkish Penal Code, and it reflects a deliberate policy choice to make monetary penalties genuinely proportionate rather than nominal burdens on wealthy defendants or crushing impositions on those with limited means.

The Day-Fine System Under Article 52 of the Turkish Penal Code

The judicial fine in Turkish criminal law operates through a day-fine system, meaning that the total amount payable is not determined directly but is instead the product of two independent variables: a number of days and a daily monetary unit. The sentencing court first determines the number of days that corresponds to the severity of the offense, and then determines the value of each day based on the defendant’s financial and personal circumstances. The product of these two figures constitutes the total judicial fine.

Article 52, paragraph 1 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237: The judicial fine consists of the payment by the convicted person to the State Treasury of an amount calculated by multiplying the number of full days, which shall be no fewer than five and, unless the law provides otherwise, no more than seven hundred and thirty, by the amount determined for each day.

The day range therefore runs from a minimum of five days to a maximum of seven hundred and thirty days, equivalent to two years. For specific offenses, the Penal Code or special criminal legislation may set different ranges within or outside this general bracket, and those specific provisions take precedence. The general bracket of five to seven hundred and thirty days applies where no specific range is prescribed.

The daily monetary unit constitutes the second variable in the calculation. As amended by Law No. 7499 with effect from June 1, 2024, Article 52, paragraph 2 sets the daily unit at a minimum of one hundred Turkish Liras and a maximum of five hundred Turkish Liras. Prior to this amendment, the range was twenty to one hundred Turkish Liras, a bracket that had become increasingly disconnected from economic reality due to inflation. The court determines the precise daily unit within the statutory range by reference to the defendant’s economic situation and other personal circumstances, including income, family obligations, and financial assets.

Article 52, paragraph 2 of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237 (as amended by Law No. 7499, effective June 1, 2024): The daily amount of the judicial fine, which shall be no less than one hundred and no more than five hundred Turkish Liras, shall be assessed taking into account the economic and other personal circumstances of the offender.

The sentencing judgment must state the number of days and the daily monetary unit separately and explicitly. A judgment that states only the total monetary amount without identifying the two components that produced it is deficient and constitutes a ground for reversal on appeal. This formal requirement reflects the individualization principle at the heart of the day-fine mechanism and ensures that the appellate courts can verify whether the lower court properly assessed the defendant’s circumstances.

The Four Forms of Judicial Fine in Turkish Law

Judicial fines arise in four distinct ways under Turkish criminal law, depending on the nature of the offense and the structure of the applicable penalty provision.

The first form is the direct judicial fine, where the statutory offense itself provides for a monetary sanction as the sole punishment without any possibility of imprisonment. A defendant convicted of such an offense must be sentenced to a judicial fine, and the court has no discretion to impose imprisonment instead. Negligent environmental pollution under Article 182, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code is an example of an offense subject exclusively to a direct judicial fine.

The second form involves offenses where the statute provides for either imprisonment or a judicial fine as alternative punishments, placing the choice between them within the court’s discretion. Where the court selects imprisonment in such a case, it cannot subsequently convert that sentence to a judicial fine, as Article 50, paragraph 2 of the Penal Code prohibits double conversion in cases where the legislature has already offered the monetary option and the court exercised its discretion in favor of imprisonment.

The third form is the conversion of a short-term imprisonment sentence to a judicial fine under Article 50 of the Penal Code. Where the court imposes an imprisonment sentence of one year or less for an intentional offense, it may convert that sentence to a judicial fine, taking into account the personality of the offender, their social and economic circumstances, the degree of remorse shown during the proceedings, and the particular features of the offense. For offenses committed through negligence, there is no upper duration limit; any negligent offense may be converted regardless of the length of the imprisonment sentence, with the exception of offenses committed through conscious negligence.

Article 50, paragraph 1(a) of the Turkish Penal Code No. 5237: Short-term imprisonment sentences may be converted to the following alternative sanctions: payment of a judicial fine calculated at the minimum daily rate for each day of imprisonment.

The fourth and least common form arises from the operation of sentencing adjustment provisions that produce a monetary sanction as the result of mitigating factors applied to a sentence that would otherwise involve imprisonment.

Individualization of the Penalty and the Role of Article 61

The principle of individualization is central to the Turkish sentencing framework and applies to judicial fines as fully as it applies to imprisonment. Article 61 of the Penal Code sets out the factors that courts must consider when determining the appropriate sentence within the statutory range, including the manner in which the offense was committed, the nature and extent of damage caused, the degree of fault, the motives and aims of the offender, and the defendant’s prior conduct and criminal history.

In judicial fine proceedings, this individualization operates on two levels. At the first level, the court determines the number of days by evaluating the gravity of the conduct. At the second level, the court evaluates the defendant’s financial capacity to fix the daily unit. A defendant with significant income and assets will receive a daily unit at or near the upper end of the statutory range, while a defendant with modest or limited income will receive a unit closer to the minimum. The goal is to ensure that the total fine represents a genuine and proportionate deprivation for each particular defendant, rather than a sum that is trivial for some and ruinous for others.

Installment Payments

Turkish criminal law recognizes that even a properly individualized judicial fine may present cash-flow difficulties for a defendant who lacks liquid assets despite having a generally adequate economic situation. Article 52, paragraph 4 of the Penal Code allows the sentencing court to authorize payment of the judicial fine in installments, taking into account the defendant’s economic circumstances. The minimum number of installments is four, and the maximum duration of the installment plan is twenty-four months. The installments must be of equal amount and at regular intervals.

If the defendant fails to pay any installment on time, the entire outstanding balance becomes immediately due. Non-payment of any installment revives the risk of conversion to imprisonment applicable to the underlying fine, making timely compliance with the payment schedule essential. Where the fine has not been put on an installment plan by the court in the judgment itself, the defendant retains a post-judgment option under the enforcement provisions: if the defendant pays one third of the total fine within the first month following notification of the payment order, the remaining two thirds may be paid in two equal monthly installments.

Enforcement and Consequences of Non-Payment

Once a judicial fine judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Office of the Public Prosecutor for enforcement. The prosecutor issues a payment order giving the defendant one month to pay the full amount. If payment is not made within this period, the enforcement procedure set out in Article 106 of the Law on the Execution of Sentences and Security Measures No. 5275 is triggered.

Article 106, paragraph 2 of Law No. 5275: If the convicted person does not pay the judicial fine upon notification of the payment order, the unpaid amount shall be converted to imprisonment by decision of the public prosecutor, at the rate of one day of imprisonment for each day of the fine.

The conversion operates mechanically at a one-to-one ratio: each unpaid day of the fine produces one day of imprisonment. However, the total imprisonment resulting from the conversion of a judicial fine in a single case is capped at three years. Where multiple judgments imposing judicial fines have been rendered against the same person, the aggregate imprisonment from conversion across all cases is capped at five years.

Before the defendant is actually committed to prison, Article 106, paragraph 3 gives the court discretion to order that the converted imprisonment be served through community service instead. Under this mechanism, the defendant performs supervised labor at a rate of two hours of work per day of imprisonment, with a daily minimum of two hours and a maximum of eight hours. The schedule is organized by the Probation Directorate. If the defendant fails to comply with the community service program or disregards the instructions of probation officers, the days already completed are credited and the remaining days are served as actual imprisonment. At any stage, the defendant may pay the remaining balance of the original fine and thereby exit either the imprisonment or the community service program.

A notable limitation applies to the conversion mechanism for fines imposed on minors. Under Article 106, paragraph 4 of Law No. 5275, judicial fines imposed on persons who were under the age of eighteen at the time of the offense may not be converted to imprisonment regardless of non-payment. Instead, collection is pursued through the administrative debt enforcement procedures applicable to public receivables generally.

Judicial Fine and Criminal Record

One of the most significant practical consequences of a judicial fine under Turkish law is that it constitutes a criminal conviction and is recorded on the defendant’s criminal record, known as the adli sicil. This distinguishes the judicial fine from administrative fines, which are not recorded in the criminal record and do not affect the defendant’s legal status as a person without a prior conviction.

The criminal record entry for a judicial fine carries consequences in several areas. Certain public sector employment positions require a clean criminal record, and a conviction resulting in a judicial fine may render a candidate ineligible. In subsequent criminal proceedings, the existence of a prior conviction may affect the court’s assessment of recidivism and may influence sentencing decisions. The criminal record entry is expunged after the applicable statutory period has elapsed without further offending, in accordance with Article 13 of the Law on Criminal Records No. 5352.

Unlike a suspended imprisonment sentence, a judicial fine cannot be suspended under the criminal procedure rules applicable to suspension of imprisonment under Article 51 of the Penal Code. Suspension is a mechanism available only for imprisonment sentences. However, the institution of deferral of the announcement of the verdict, known as hükmün açıklanmasının geri bırakılması or HAGB, may be applied to judicial fines in appropriate cases, preventing the conviction from being formally announced and thereby avoiding the criminal record entry for the duration of the probation period, provided the defendant does not commit a further intentional offense within that period.

Criminal Defense Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, advising clients in criminal proceedings involving judicial fines, sentencing hearings, and appellate challenges to monetary penalty determinations. His practice covers the assessment of conversion options under Article 50, installment payment arrangements, enforcement matters, and the criminal record implications of judicial fine convictions.

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.

The post Judicial Fines and Monetary Penalties in Turkey first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

Family Courts in Turkey operate under both the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 and the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, along with a body of Court of Cassation precedent that shapes how evidentiary matters are handled in practice. The interplay between these sources means that what counts as adequate documentation is not always intuitively obvious, and the practical requirements on the ground often exceed what a plain reading of the statutory text might suggest.

The Divorce Petition

The foundational document in any divorce case is the petition, known as the dava dilekçesi. This is the formal written submission through which the plaintiff initiates the lawsuit and places the case before the court. Under Article 119 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the petition must identify the court to which it is addressed, set out the name, address, and Turkish identification number of both the plaintiff and the defendant, state the legal ground on which the divorce is sought, describe the facts that the plaintiff relies on to support that ground, specify the evidence that will be presented, and state precisely what relief the plaintiff is seeking.

Article 119 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100: The statement of claim must contain the name of the court; the names, Turkish identification numbers, addresses, and if applicable the legal representative information of the parties; the subject matter and value of the claim; the facts on which the claim is based; the legal grounds; the evidence to be relied upon in relation to each disputed fact; and the plaintiff’s specific requests.

In contested divorce cases, the content of the petition is particularly important because the legal ground relied upon determines the evidentiary requirements that follow. A petition alleging irretrievable breakdown of the marriage under Article 166 of the Turkish Civil Code requires a different evidentiary structure than one alleging adultery under Article 161 or desertion under Article 164. The petition must therefore be drafted with care, identifying the correct statutory ground, connecting that ground to the specific facts of the case, and listing the types of evidence that will be presented to support each factual claim.

In uncontested divorce cases, the petition is considerably shorter. It establishes the identity of the parties, confirms that the marriage has lasted for at least one year, states that both parties consent to the dissolution, and references the written agreement, known as the divorce protocol, that the parties have reached regarding the financial consequences of the divorce and the arrangements concerning any children.

Identity and Civil Status Documents

Every divorce petition must be accompanied by a copy of the plaintiff’s identity card or, in the case of a foreign national, passport. This document serves to establish the identity of the person initiating the proceedings and provides the court with the information needed to issue notifications and summonses.

Alongside identity documentation, the court requires a civil registry record, known as the nüfus kayıt örneği or vukuatlı nüfus kaydı. This document, issued by the Civil Registry Directorate or accessible through the e-Government portal, contains a comprehensive record of the individual’s civil status, including the date and place of marriage, the names of any children born of the marriage, and the national identification numbers of all family members listed under the same household record. It serves as the primary official confirmation that the marriage whose dissolution is being sought actually exists in the civil registry system.

In practice, Turkish Family Courts are increasingly able to access civil registry data directly through the UYAP electronic court system, which is integrated with the central population register known as MERNİS. This means that in many cases the court can verify the civil status of the parties without requiring the physical submission of a paper registry document. Nevertheless, submitting a current registry record at the time of filing remains advisable to ensure that the court’s records are accurate and to prevent disputes over the identification of the parties or the status of any children.

For uncontested divorce proceedings, the marriage certificate or a notarized copy of it may also be submitted alongside the civil registry record, particularly where the parties wish to confirm the formal date of the marriage for the purpose of satisfying the one-year minimum duration required under Article 166, paragraph 3 of the Turkish Civil Code.

The Special Power of Attorney for Divorce

When a divorce lawsuit is to be filed and conducted by a lawyer on behalf of one or both parties, the lawyer must hold a properly executed power of attorney. Turkish law treats divorce as a proceeding that concerns personal rights, which means that an ordinary general power of attorney is not sufficient. The power of attorney must contain an explicit and specific authorization to initiate and conduct divorce proceedings.

The power of attorney for divorce must be issued before a notary public, must include a current photograph of the person granting the authority, and must expressly mention the right to file a divorce lawsuit, waive claims, settle, appeal, and withdraw from the case. Without these specific authorizations, the court will not accept the lawyer’s representation as valid for the purposes of the divorce proceeding.

For parties who are living abroad, the power of attorney may be issued before the competent Turkish Consulate or Embassy in the country of residence. Documents prepared at Turkish consular offices carry full legal validity within Turkey without requiring further apostille certification. Where the power of attorney is prepared before a foreign notary, it must be apostilled in accordance with the Hague Convention on Apostille and then translated into Turkish by a sworn translator, with the translation itself notarized. In 2026, the integration of e-Government systems has simplified parts of this process for domestic cases, but for parties residing abroad the consular route remains the most practical and legally secure option.

The Divorce Protocol in Uncontested Cases

In uncontested divorce proceedings, the written divorce protocol is one of the most consequential documents in the entire case. This agreement, signed by both parties, sets out all of the terms on which the marriage will be dissolved and its consequences regulated. A protocol that is incomplete or ambiguous in its terms may be rejected by the judge or returned for revision, which can convert what was intended to be a straightforward uncontested proceeding into a more protracted matter.

The protocol must address spousal alimony, specifying whether either party waives or claims poverty alimony following the divorce. It must cover the custody of any minor children, including who will hold custody and what personal contact rights the non-custodial parent will have. It must specify the amount and duration of child support payable by the non-custodial parent. It must address any claims for material or moral compensation arising from the conduct that led to the divorce. If the parties have agreed on a division of marital assets or on the waiver of mutual property claims, this too should be clearly stated.

The judge in an uncontested divorce proceeding is not bound by the terms of the protocol and may propose modifications if the existing terms do not adequately protect the interests of the children or are otherwise legally unsatisfactory. Both parties must accept the final version of the protocol in person before the judge, and this personal appearance cannot be delegated to a lawyer by power of attorney.

Evidence Documents in Contested Divorce Cases

In contested divorce proceedings, the documentation filed alongside the petition extends well beyond the basic identity and civil status materials. The plaintiff must be prepared to support each factual allegation in the petition with appropriate evidence, and the types of evidence that are considered admissible and persuasive in Turkish Family Courts reflect a combination of statutory rules and practical conventions developed through years of Court of Cassation case law.

Witness testimony remains the most commonly relied upon form of evidence in contested divorce cases in Turkey, particularly in cases alleging irretrievable breakdown of the marriage or cruel and insulting behavior. While witnesses are not identified in the initial petition filing, the petition must list witness evidence as one of the evidence types to be relied upon, and the names and addresses of witnesses are typically provided to the court at the preliminary hearing stage.

Financial documents play a critical role in cases where the plaintiff intends to seek alimony, compensation, or where the division of marital property is anticipated. Bank statements, salary certificates, tax declarations, and property ownership records can all be submitted to the court to establish the financial capacity of each party and to form the basis of alimony and compensation claims.

Medical reports from hospitals or forensic medicine institutions are essential in cases alleging physical violence. These reports document the injuries sustained and are among the most significant forms of documentary evidence in cases where cruel treatment is invoked as a ground for divorce. Official complaint records filed with the police or prosecutor’s office, and any existing restraining orders or protective measures issued under Law No. 6284, also serve as important evidentiary documents in such cases.

Digital evidence, including message records from communication platforms, social media content, email correspondence, and call logs obtained through official channels, has become a significant category of evidence in contested divorce proceedings. However, the manner in which such evidence is obtained is subject to strict scrutiny. Courts assess whether digital content was produced or accessed lawfully, and evidence obtained through unauthorized access to the other party’s devices or accounts risks being excluded.

Article 189 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100: Evidence that has been obtained unlawfully may not be used in court proceedings.

The Court of Cassation has consistently held that social media posts made by a party in a public setting, hotel registration records accessed through official channels, call detail records obtained through court order, and bank and credit card statements may all constitute valid evidence in divorce proceedings when properly presented. Notarized digital preservation records, in which a notary officially records and time-stamps the content of a publicly accessible online profile or post, are a particularly reliable way of preserving digital evidence before it can be deleted.

Documents Specific to Cases Involving Foreign Nationals

When one or both spouses are foreign nationals, additional documentary requirements arise. A foreign national who is a party to a Turkish divorce proceeding must provide a valid passport as their primary identity document. Where the foreign national holds a Turkish residence permit, a copy of that permit may also be relevant for establishing the jurisdictional connection to the Turkish court.

In cases where the foreign national has a registered civil status in their home country, documents evidencing that status may be requested by the court, particularly where the question of which country’s law governs the divorce arises under the Act on International Private and Procedural Law. Foreign official documents submitted to Turkish courts must be apostilled and accompanied by a certified Turkish translation prepared by a sworn translator and notarized.

Where the foreign national resides outside Turkey and wishes to file or respond to a divorce lawsuit through a lawyer, the power of attorney must be issued either at the Turkish consulate abroad or before a local notary with a full apostille certification and sworn Turkish translation. The adequacy of the power of attorney is particularly important in cases involving foreign parties because deficiencies in the document can create jurisdictional complications that are more difficult to resolve than in purely domestic cases.

Court Fees and Cost Advance

Turkish courts require the payment of a filing fee and a procedural cost advance at the time the divorce petition is submitted. The filing fee is calculated as a fixed amount set annually by the Ministry of Justice. The procedural cost advance covers the anticipated costs of notification, summons service, and other administrative steps in the case. Proof of payment of these amounts must be attached to the petition at the time of filing; without evidence of payment, the court registry will not accept the petition.

In cases where the plaintiff claims an inability to meet the costs of litigation, an application for legal aid may be made to the court. If granted, the court waives or defers the payment of the filing fee and procedural costs. However, legal aid applications are assessed individually and the court may require documentation of the applicant’s financial circumstances.

Divorce Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, assisting both Turkish and foreign clients in preparing and filing divorce cases before the Turkish Family Courts. His practice covers the preparation of divorce petitions, divorce protocols, and evidentiary filings in contested and uncontested proceedings, as well as the coordination of documentation requirements for clients residing abroad.

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.

The post Required Documents for Filing a Divorce Lawsuit in Turkey first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The cadastral surveying process is still ongoing in various parts of Turkey. Although a significant portion of the country’s land has been cadastrally registered, there remain localities where surveying has not yet been completed or where earlier surveys are being revised. For landowners, heirs, and persons with pre-existing rights over a parcel of land, understanding how cadastral determinations are made and how they can be challenged is a matter of direct practical importance.

The Cadastral Survey Process Under Law No. 3402

The cadastral survey is carried out by teams consisting of cadastral technicians operating under the authority of the relevant Cadastre Directorate. Before field operations begin, the area to be surveyed is publicly announced at least seven days in advance through customary means in the relevant village or neighborhood. If field operations are interrupted for more than three months, a fresh announcement is required.

Once the field team arrives at the survey area, the technicians work in the presence of the property owners and other interested parties. They examine all available documentation, including title deeds, tax records, and maps, and take testimony from at least three local expert witnesses, known as bilirkişi, as well as from the muhtar of the relevant village or neighborhood. These local witnesses provide factual information about the historical use and possession of the land, boundaries, and any known disputes.

Article 9 of the Cadastral Law No. 3402: Cadastral technicians shall examine title deeds, tax records, and other documents in conjunction with the knowledge of at least three expert witnesses and the muhtar, apply these to the field conditions, and prepare a cadastral record for each immovable property, determining its boundaries and identifying its rightful owner in accordance with the provisions of this Law.

The technicians prepare a cadastral record, known as a kadastro tutanağı, for each parcel. This record sets out the boundaries of the property, its surface area, and the identity of the person determined to be the owner or holder of a real right over it. If a dispute arises between two claimants and the documents they rely upon are found to be of equal evidentiary weight, the matter is referred to the cadastral commission for resolution. When even the commission cannot resolve the dispute, the property is referred directly to the Cadastral Court.

The Public Announcement and the Objection Period

After the field survey is completed, the cadastral records are compiled into notice sheets, known as askı cetvelleri, and displayed publicly. Under Article 11 of the Cadastral Law, these sheets are posted at the Cadastre Directorate and at the local mukhtar’s office for a period of thirty days. The display period constitutes formal public notice to all interested parties, and the law deems this notice to be equivalent to personal service on every individual and public or private legal entity that may have an interest in the announced determinations.

Article 11 of the Cadastral Law No. 3402: The cadastral records and cadastral maps prepared in accordance with this Law shall be announced by being posted at the Cadastre Directorate and the local muhtar’s office for thirty days. This announcement shall be deemed to constitute personal notification to all real persons and public and private legal entities concerned.

During this thirty-day period, any person who believes that the cadastral determination is incorrect or conflicts with their legal rights may file an objection by initiating a lawsuit before the Cadastral Court. The thirty-day announcement period is a forfeiture deadline, not a mere statute of limitations. This distinction is significant: the court is required to take notice of it regardless of whether either party raises the issue, and it cannot be suspended or interrupted. A person who allows the thirty-day window to pass without filing an objection loses the right to challenge the cadastral determination through the objection mechanism, and the cadastral record is finalized by the Cadastre Director on the day following the expiration of the announcement period.

The Cadastral Court and Its Jurisdiction

Cadastral courts are specialized first-instance courts established in locations where cadastral operations are being conducted. Their jurisdiction commences from the date on which the cadastral record is prepared and continues until the record is finalized. Disputes about the ownership or boundaries of a parcel whose cadastral record has not yet been finalized are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the cadastral court, even if the same dispute had been pending before an ordinary civil court at the time the cadastral operations began. When a lawsuit is already pending before a civil court and a cadastral record is subsequently prepared for the same property, the civil court forwards the relevant information to the cadastral court and continues to retain its own file only in an administrative capacity until the cadastral proceeding is resolved.

Territorial competence belongs to the cadastral court located in the jurisdiction where the property is situated. The proceedings before cadastral courts are conducted according to the general rules of civil procedure under the Civil Procedure Code, with certain modifications specific to cadastral disputes. In particular, the court may order site inspections and is required to appoint expert witnesses to assess boundary lines and the physical condition of the property in the field.

Objection to Cadastral Determination: Grounds and Evidence

An objection lawsuit filed during the thirty-day announcement period may be based on any ground that the plaintiff believes renders the cadastral determination incorrect. Common grounds include errors in the identification of the owner, errors in the drawing of boundary lines, the omission of existing rights such as servitudes or usufructs, the failure to recognize possessory rights that should have been taken into account, and the incorrect application of title or tax records to the field. The plaintiff must identify the specific error and present evidence supporting the correction they are seeking.

Evidence in cadastral objection cases takes several forms. Title deeds, inheritance documents, older cadastral maps, aerial photographs, boundary markers, and tax payment records all serve as primary documentary evidence. Witness testimony from persons who have personal knowledge of the use and possession of the land over time is also central to these proceedings. The court typically orders a site inspection at which the expert witnesses, the parties’ own witnesses, and the court-appointed technical expert all attend. The technical expert prepares a report that identifies the boundaries on the ground, reconciles the documentary evidence with the physical reality of the parcel, and provides the court with a basis for its determination.

Title Cancellation and Re-Registration After Finalization

Once the cadastral record is finalized — either because no objection was filed within the thirty-day period or because the cadastral court has issued a final judgment — the property is registered in the land registry. From this point forward, challenges to the ownership of the property must take the form of an ordinary title cancellation and re-registration lawsuit before the civil court with jurisdiction over the location of the property.

A person who claims that a finalized cadastral determination wrongly attributed ownership of a property to another person, and who bases this claim on rights that existed prior to the cadastral survey, may file a title cancellation and re-registration lawsuit. However, this type of claim is subject to a strict ten-year forfeiture period.

Article 12, paragraph 3 of the Cadastral Law No. 3402: After ten years have elapsed from the date on which the cadastral records specifying the relevant rights, delimitations, and determinations became final, no objection may be raised and no lawsuit may be filed based on legal grounds predating the cadastral survey.

This ten-year period is classified under Turkish law as a hak düşürücü süre, meaning a forfeiture period that extinguishes the underlying right rather than merely barring the legal action. The court must apply this limitation of its own motion, without waiting for the defendant to raise it as a defense. Once the ten-year period has expired, even a person who held a clearly established pre-cadastral right over the land is barred from asserting it through litigation. This rule has been the subject of significant academic and judicial debate, with critics arguing that it effectively eliminates property rights that are constitutionally protected. The Court of Cassation has nevertheless consistently applied it in practice, with certain narrow exceptions, including cases where the cadastral determination was itself procured through fraud, where the heir acquired their interest after the cadastral finalization date, or where the conduct at issue falls within the doctrine of inheritance fraud known as muris muvazaası.

Cadastral Disputes Involving State Land and Forest Areas

A particularly contentious category of cadastral dispute in Turkey involves land that the state asserts forms part of the public domain or falls within the boundaries of a state forest. The Forestry Law No. 6831 contains its own cadastral provisions governing the delimitation of state forests, and forest cadastral surveys are carried out by separate commissions that operate alongside the general cadastral teams. The ten-year forfeiture rule under the Forestry Law mirrors the provision in the Cadastral Law but explicitly exempts the Treasury from its application, meaning that the state retains the right to claim forest land even after the ten-year period has expired, while private individuals do not.

In practice, disputes over whether land constitutes a state forest or private property are among the most complex and prolonged cadastral lawsuits in the Turkish legal system. They typically involve multiple rounds of expert testimony, satellite imaging, historical records of vegetation cover, and assessments of the land’s classification under earlier forestry maps. The Court of Cassation has developed extensive case law on the evidentiary standards applicable in these disputes, and the outcomes are often highly dependent on the specific documentation available for the parcel in question.

The Role of the Land Registry After Cadastral Finalization

Following finalization and registration, the land registry becomes the authoritative record of title for the property. Under Turkish civil law, the land registry carries a presumption of correctness, and third parties who acquire rights over registered property in good faith and for value are generally protected even if the underlying registration was erroneous. This principle of reliance on the land registry, codified in the Turkish Civil Code, interacts with the cadastral system in important ways. A person who is wrongfully dispossessed of a property through an erroneous cadastral determination and who fails to challenge that determination within the applicable deadlines may find that the property has subsequently been transferred to a good-faith third party purchaser. In that scenario, the wronged party can no longer recover the property itself and must instead pursue a compensation claim against the state for the loss caused by the erroneous cadastral operation.

The General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre bears institutional responsibility for the accuracy of cadastral operations, and individuals who suffer provable losses as a result of cadastral errors have the right to seek compensation from the state under the general principles of administrative liability. These compensation claims are pursued before the administrative courts and require the plaintiff to demonstrate both the existence of a cadastral error and a direct causal link between that error and the loss suffered.

Real Estate and Property Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, advising clients on cadastral disputes, title cancellation and re-registration lawsuits, and land registry proceedings under Turkish law. His practice covers objection lawsuits filed during the cadastral announcement period, pre-cadastral rights claims, and compensation actions arising from erroneous cadastral determinations, representing both individual landowners and foreign nationals with property interests in Turkey.

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.

The post Cadastral Determination and Land Registry Lawsuits in Turkey first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The institution is not equivalent to a death certificate and does not establish with legal certainty that the person has died. Rather, it is a judicial mechanism that creates a legal presumption of death where the circumstances of the disappearance make death strongly probable and where sufficient time has elapsed without any confirmed news of the person’s survival.

The Substantive Conditions for a Declaration of Absence

Turkish law recognizes two factual scenarios that may give rise to a declaration of absence. The first is the disappearance of a person in circumstances that presented a serious and imminent risk of death. This scenario covers situations such as natural disasters, shipwrecks, aircraft crashes, military conflict, or other events in which death is a strongly probable outcome but has not been confirmed. The critical element is not the certainty of death but the high probability that the person perished in the circumstances in which they were last seen. The disappearance of a person in conditions where death by causes unrelated to the incident is equally plausible would not ordinarily satisfy this requirement.

The second scenario applies where a person has simply been out of contact for an extended period without any connection to a specific life-threatening event. If no news of any kind has been received from the individual for a sufficiently long period, and the overall circumstances make death likely, a declaration of absence may be sought on this basis as well.

Article 32 of the Turkish Civil Code: If a person has disappeared in circumstances of mortal danger or has not been heard from for a long period of time, and if death is strongly probable, the court may, upon the application of those whose rights are dependent on the death of that person, declare such person absent. The competent court is the court of the person’s last place of residence in Turkey; if the person has never resided in Turkey, the court of the place where the person is registered in the civil registry; if no such registration exists, the court of the place where the person’s mother or father is registered.

In both scenarios, the court does not simply accept the applicant’s account. It is required to investigate the circumstances through official channels, including civil registry records, police and gendarmerie records, and any other public or private sources that may shed light on the person’s fate. The public announcement mechanism described below also serves an investigative function, as it invites third parties who may have knowledge of the missing person to come forward.

Mandatory Waiting Periods and the Public Announcement Process

The Turkish Civil Code imposes minimum waiting periods that must have elapsed before an application for a declaration of absence can be considered. Where the disappearance occurred in circumstances of mortal danger, at least one year must have passed since that danger arose. Where the basis is prolonged absence without specific life-threatening circumstances, the period is considerably longer: at least five years must have elapsed since the last confirmed news of the person.

Article 33 of the Turkish Civil Code: In order for a declaration of absence to be requested, at least one year must have passed since the mortal danger, or at least five years must have passed since the date of the last news. The court shall summon by public announcement those who have knowledge of the person whose declaration of absence is sought, calling upon them to provide information within a specified period. This period shall be at least six months from the date of the first announcement.

Once the application is filed and the court is satisfied that the applicable waiting period has been met, it initiates a public announcement phase. This announcement is made at least twice, and the interval between the first and second announcement must be no less than six months. The purpose of the announcement is twofold: to give the missing person, if still alive, the opportunity to come forward and prevent the declaration from being issued against them, and to allow any third parties who have knowledge of the person’s survival or fate to inform the court. The form and medium of the announcement are left to the judge’s discretion and are tailored to the circumstances of each case.

If the missing person comes forward before the expiry of the announcement period, or if reliable news of their survival is received, or if the date of their actual death is established during the proceedings, the application for a declaration of absence is dismissed.

Who May Apply and the Non-Contentious Nature of the Proceeding

An application for a declaration of absence may be filed only by those persons whose rights are dependent on the death of the missing individual. In practice, this means the legal heirs of the missing person, including the surviving spouse, children, parents, and other relatives who would inherit under the Turkish Civil Code. A person named as a beneficiary in a validly executed will also falls within this category. Additionally, under Article 588 of the Turkish Civil Code, the state treasury is not merely entitled but obligated to apply for a declaration of absence when all other heirs are absent and the estate would otherwise revert to the state.

The proceeding is classified as non-contentious jurisdiction under Turkish procedural law, which means that there is no opposing party and the case is filed as a petition without a defendant. The competent court is the Civil Court of Peace, known as the Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi, situated at the last place of residence of the missing person in Turkey. If the missing person never resided in Turkey, the competent court is located at the place where the person is registered in the civil registry. If no such registration exists, the court at the place of registration of the person’s mother or father has jurisdiction. Where none of these connecting factors can be established, the application may be filed before the courts of Istanbul, Ankara, or İzmir.

Effects on Marriage and Family Law

One of the most consequential and frequently misunderstood aspects of the declaration of absence is its effect on the missing person’s marriage. A declaration of absence does not automatically dissolve the marital bond. Under Article 131 of the Turkish Civil Code, the spouse of a declared-absent person may not remarry unless the court has separately issued an order annulling the marriage.

Article 131 of the Turkish Civil Code: The spouse of a person declared absent may not remarry unless the court has decided to annul the marriage. The surviving spouse may request the annulment of the marriage together with the application for a declaration of absence, or through a separate lawsuit.

This means that if the surviving spouse does not seek annulment, the marriage continues to exist in the eyes of the law. The practical implication is that the surviving spouse retains the right to inherit from the missing person as a spouse, since the marital relationship is intact. If the spouse chooses to seek annulment of the marriage, this can be requested as part of the same proceeding or through a separate lawsuit filed before the Family Court at the applicant’s own place of residence.

When the marriage is annulled following a declaration of absence, the property regime existing between the spouses must also be liquidated. The default matrimonial property regime in force since January 1, 2002, under Turkish law is the regime of participation in acquired property, which requires an equal division of assets acquired during the marriage through the income or labor of either spouse. The liquidation of this regime is a separate civil proceeding that follows the dissolution of the marriage.

Regarding children, if the missing person is the husband, the 300-day legal presumption of paternity begins to run from the date of the mortal danger or the date of the last confirmed news, rather than from the date the declaration of absence is issued. This rule ensures that the paternity status of children born after the disappearance is determined by reference to the actual circumstances rather than the date of the judicial decision.

Effects on Inheritance and the Security Obligation

Once a declaration of absence becomes final, the estate of the missing person passes to the heirs as if the person had died. However, Turkish law imposes a safeguard that distinguishes this transfer from an ordinary inheritance: the heirs who receive property from the estate of the declared-absent person are required to provide security in favor of any persons who may subsequently prove a superior or equal right to that property.

Article 585 of the Turkish Civil Code: Those who have received shares of the estate of a declared-absent person are obliged to provide security. The obligation to provide security lapses five years after the declaration of absence, or ten years after the date of the last news, or upon the death of the absent person.

This security mechanism protects against the possibility that the missing person may return or that other claimants — such as previously unknown heirs — may emerge after the estate has been distributed. The nature and form of the security is determined by the court based on the circumstances, and it may take the form of a bank guarantee, a real property mortgage, or another instrument acceptable to the court.

If the Absent Person Returns

The declaration of absence is not an irrevocable determination. If the person who was declared absent subsequently reappears, or if it is established that they are alive, the declaration loses its legal force. Under Article 585 and related provisions, a person who returns after being declared absent may reclaim their property from those who received it as part of the distributed estate, provided that the security period has not expired and the property has not been transferred to bona fide third parties.

The returning person may seek the return of assets in the form they were received, or their monetary equivalent if the assets can no longer be returned in kind. However, heirs who consumed or disposed of assets in good faith before becoming aware of the person’s survival are protected to the extent that they are no longer unjustly enriched.

If the spouse of the declared-absent person had the marriage annulled and subsequently remarried, the return of the declared-absent person does not restore the original marriage. The original marriage remains dissolved, and the subsequent marriage remains valid. The only path to reconstituting the original marital relationship would be through a new marriage ceremony between the parties.

Registration of the Declaration and Civil Registry Implications

Once a declaration of absence becomes final, the court notifies the relevant civil registry authority, and the declaration is entered into the death register in accordance with Article 45 of the Turkish Civil Code. This registration formalizes the legal presumption of death for civil registry purposes and ensures that the missing person’s status is reflected in the official civil records. The registration does not carry the same legal weight as a death certificate based on confirmed death, but it has equivalent effect for the purposes of rights that are dependent on the death of the person in question.

The practical consequence of this registration is that official documents issued by civil registry authorities, such as records of marital status, family composition documents, and inheritance declarations, will reflect the status established by the court’s decision. Foreign nationals who wish to obtain a declaration of absence before a Turkish court in respect of a person registered in the Turkish civil registry may also benefit from this framework, provided the conditions for Turkish court jurisdiction are satisfied.

Family and Civil Law Attorney in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, advising clients on matters of personal status, inheritance, and family law under Turkish civil law. His practice covers applications for declaration of absence, inheritance proceedings arising from the estates of declared-absent persons, annulment of marriage following a declaration of absence, and the related liquidation of matrimonial property regimes before the competent courts in Istanbul.

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.

The post Declaration of Absence and Missing Persons Under Turkish Law first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The Turkish Civil Code distinguishes between the adoption of minors, meaning persons under the age of eighteen, and the adoption of adults or persons under guardianship. These two categories are subject to different legal requirements and procedural frameworks, reflecting the legislature’s recognition that the reasons for adoption and the protection needs of the adopted person differ significantly depending on age and legal capacity.

Requirements for the Adoption of Minors

The adoption of a minor in Turkish law is conditioned on a set of mandatory substantive requirements that must be satisfied before any court proceeding can be initiated. The first and most fundamental of these requirements is that the prospective adoptive parent or parents must have cared for and raised the child for at least one year prior to filing the adoption petition. This care period is not merely a formality. It serves as a probationary phase during which the suitability of the relationship is observed and evaluated by social workers appointed by the Ministry of Family and Social Services.

Article 305 of the Turkish Civil Code: The adoption of a minor is conditional upon the adoptive parent or parents having cared for and raised the child for a period of at least one year. The adoption must in all circumstances serve the best interests of the minor, and the interests of the adoptive parent’s other children must not be inequitably prejudiced.

Beyond the care requirement, the law mandates that there be an age difference of at least eighteen years between the adopting person and the child to be adopted. This condition is designed to ensure that the adoptive relationship mirrors the generational structure of a natural parent-child bond. A court may not waive this requirement or grant an exception in individual cases. The minimum age difference is calculated at the time the adoption petition is filed and verified by the court.

The child’s own consent is also a critical element of the adoption process when the child has the capacity to discern the significance of the decision. In practice, this capacity is assessed on a case-by-case basis and is not automatically attributed or denied based solely on age. Where the child is capable of forming and expressing an informed opinion, that consent is a prerequisite for the adoption to proceed. If a child with this capacity refuses to consent, the court may not authorize the adoption regardless of how favorable the other conditions may be.

Where the child has biological parents who are alive and have not been stripped of their parental rights, their consent is also required. Turkish courts interpret the concept of parental consent strictly, and the biological parents must personally express their consent in a legally recognized manner. However, the law provides certain exceptions where parental consent may be dispensed with, including situations where a parent has been permanently deprived of capacity, has been absent for more than two years without a known location, or has persistently failed to fulfill parental duties toward the child.

Who May Adopt: Married Couples and Single Persons

Turkish law sets out separate eligibility frameworks depending on whether the prospective adoptive parent is married or single. For married couples, the general rule is that adoption must be carried out jointly by both spouses. Neither spouse may adopt individually without the other’s participation, with limited exceptions.

Article 306 of the Turkish Civil Code: Spouses may only adopt jointly. Joint adoption is permitted when the spouses have been married for at least five years or when both spouses have reached the age of thirty. One spouse may adopt the child of the other spouse if they have been married for at least two years or if the adopting spouse has reached the age of thirty.

The joint adoption rule reflects the legislature’s view that a child entering an existing family unit should be welcomed by both legal parents simultaneously, so as to avoid ambiguity in the child’s legal status within the household. An important exception to the joint rule is the adoption of a stepchild, where one spouse seeks to legally adopt the biological child of the other spouse. This form of adoption is permitted under Article 306, paragraph 2, and is one of the more commonly encountered adoption scenarios in Turkish family courts. In such cases, the biological child’s other parent must generally provide consent, and the court must examine whether the adoption serves the child’s best interests.

For persons who are not married, single adoption is permitted under Article 307 of the Turkish Civil Code, provided that the applicant has reached the age of thirty. There is no distinction based on gender. Both men and women may apply as single adoptive parents. The thirty-year age threshold applies regardless of whether the applicant is single, divorced, or widowed. An exception allowing a married person to adopt individually exists only in narrow circumstances, such as when the other spouse has permanently lost the capacity to consent, has been missing for more than two years, or has been living separately from the applicant for more than two years by court order.

Adoption of Adults and Persons Under Guardianship

The Turkish Civil Code also provides for the adoption of adults, defined as persons who have reached the age of majority, and persons under guardianship. This form of adoption is regulated separately from the adoption of minors and operates under a different set of conditions.

Article 313 of the Turkish Civil Code: A person who has reached the age of majority or who is under guardianship may be adopted if the adoptive parent has no descendants of their own, or if the adult to be adopted has been cared for by the adoptive parent during their minority, or if other legitimate reasons justify the establishment of an adoptive relationship.

The adoption of an adult does not involve the Ministry of Family and Social Services or the administrative procedures that apply to the adoption of minors. The process is conducted entirely through judicial proceedings before the Family Court, and both parties must personally consent to the establishment of the adoptive relationship. The one-year care requirement applicable to minors does not apply in the same way to adult adoption cases, though the court may consider the nature and history of the relationship between the parties when evaluating the legitimacy of the request.

The Administrative Phase: Application to the Ministry

For the adoption of minors, the process begins not with a court filing but with an application to the Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Services, which operates under the Ministry of Family and Social Services. This administrative phase is a prerequisite for the judicial phase and cannot be bypassed.

The applicant or applicants must submit a comprehensive file that includes identity documents, a health report issued by a recognized medical institution confirming the absence of any physical, mental, or psychological conditions that would impair the ability to provide care, financial documentation demonstrating sufficient income to support a child, a criminal record clearance, and evidence of stable housing. The Provincial Directorate reviews these materials and conducts a preliminary assessment of eligibility.

If the preliminary review is favorable, the Directorate assigns a social worker to carry out a home visit and prepare a detailed social investigation report. This report evaluates the physical conditions of the home, the interpersonal dynamics between the applicants, their motivations for adoption, their understanding of the child’s needs, and the overall environment the child would be entering. The social investigation report is one of the most determinative documents in the entire adoption process, as it informs both the Directorate’s matching decision and the court’s eventual assessment.

Following a positive social investigation, the applicants are placed on a waiting list and eventually matched with a child. Once a match is made, the child is placed in the applicant’s home under a temporary care agreement. This period, which must last at least one year to satisfy the requirement under Article 305, is closely monitored by social workers who conduct regular visits and prepare quarterly progress reports. If at any point during the temporary care period it becomes apparent that the placement is not in the child’s best interests, the Ministry may terminate the arrangement and return the child to state care before the court phase is reached.

Judicial Proceedings and the Court Decision

Once the temporary care period is completed and the social investigation findings are positive, the applicant files an adoption petition with the competent Family Court. The competent court is the Family Court located in the place of residence of the adoptive parent or, in joint adoptions, in the place of residence of either spouse.

Article 315 of the Turkish Civil Code: The adoption decision is issued by the Family Court at the place of residence of the adoptive parent. In cases of joint adoption, the court at the place of residence of either spouse is competent.

Adoption proceedings in Turkish courts are classified as non-contentious jurisdiction matters, meaning that they do not involve an opposing party in the traditional sense. The court reviews the entire file assembled during the administrative phase, including the social investigation report, the temporary care records, the consent documents, and any additional evidence it deems necessary. The judge may interview the child directly if the child possesses the requisite capacity and may also hear from the social workers who prepared the investigation reports. The court’s sole criterion is the best interests of the child. If the court is satisfied that all legal conditions have been met and that the adoption will serve the child’s welfare, it issues the adoption decree. This decree becomes final once the statutory appeal period has lapsed without objection.

Following the finalization of the court decision, the civil registry records are updated. The adopted child takes the surname of the adoptive parent. Where the adopting couple has jointly adopted a child who lacks the capacity to consent, the civil registry entry will list the names of the adoptive parents in place of the biological parents. The records and documents pertaining to the adoption are kept under confidentiality and may not be disclosed without a court order or the express request of the adoptee.

Legal Consequences of Adoption

Adoption under Turkish law produces the same legal consequences as a natural parent-child relationship. The adoptee acquires full inheritance rights as if born of the adoptive parent, and the adoptive parent assumes all parental rights and responsibilities toward the child. The legal relationship between the adoptee and the biological family is generally severed upon the finalization of the adoption, though the prohibition on marriage between persons who are related by blood within certain degrees continues to apply even after the adoptive relationship is established.

International Adoption

Turkey is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, ratified on May 29, 1993. This convention governs the cross-border adoption of children and establishes the principle of subsidiarity, meaning that intercountry adoption is only permitted when a suitable domestic placement cannot be found for the child within Turkey. Foreign nationals who wish to adopt a child from Turkey, or Turkish citizens who wish to adopt a child from abroad, must engage with both the Turkish Central Authority and the central authority of the receiving or sending country, following the procedural framework established by the Convention and the implementing regulations.

Foreign nationals residing in Turkey for more than one year may apply to the Provincial Directorate and follow the same administrative process applicable to Turkish citizens. Those residing abroad must apply through the central authority of their country of residence. In all cases, the adopting parties must meet the eligibility requirements under Turkish law in addition to any requirements imposed by their home country.

Family Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, providing legal representation to individuals and couples in adoption proceedings before Turkish Family Courts. His practice covers both domestic adoption cases and international adoption matters involving foreign nationals or cross-border placement under the Hague Convention framework.

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.

The post Adoption Proceedings and Legal Requirements Under Turkish Law first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The starting point for understanding the role of bank account investigations in divorce proceedings is the matrimonial property regime that governs most marriages in Turkey. Since January 1, 2002, the default regime under the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 has been the participation in acquired property regime. Under this system, assets acquired by either spouse during the marriage through their own labor, income, or savings are classified as acquired property and are subject to equal division upon the dissolution of the marriage. Assets owned before the marriage, or received during the marriage through inheritance or gift, are classified as personal property and remain outside the scope of division. The entire process of determining what belongs in each category depends heavily on documentary evidence, and bank records are frequently the most reliable and comprehensive source of that evidence.

Banking Secrecy and Its Limits in Judicial Proceedings

Turkish banking law protects the financial privacy of account holders under Article 73 of the Banking Law No. 5411. This provision prohibits banks and their employees from disclosing customer information and account details to third parties. However, this confidentiality obligation is not absolute. It yields to judicial authority when a court exercises its power to compel the disclosure of financial records in the course of civil litigation.

Article 73 of the Banking Law No. 5411: Banks are prohibited from disclosing secrets related to their clients or third parties, which they have obtained due to their activities, to persons other than the authorized institutions and persons specified in the law. This obligation of confidentiality does not apply to cases where disclosure is ordered by a court.

When a Family Court handling a divorce or property division case issues a formal judicial letter, known as a müzekkere, addressed to one or more banks, the recipient institution is legally required to respond with the requested account information. This mechanism overrides the banking secrecy obligation and allows the court to access account statements, transaction histories, balance records, and details of time deposits, foreign currency accounts, gold accounts, and investment instruments held in the name of either spouse. The request is typically made at the initiative of one of the parties, who must formally declare the bank records as evidence in their petition or evidence submission within the procedural deadlines set by the court.

How the Judicial Letter Process Works in Practice

A party who wishes to have bank records obtained through the court must identify the financial institutions where the other spouse is believed to hold accounts and formally request the court to write to those banks. This is done through the petition or evidence list submitted within the timeframes prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure. The party does not need to know the precise account numbers; it is sufficient to identify the bank. Upon receiving the request, the court issues official letters addressed to the relevant branches or to the bank’s central legal correspondence unit.

In practice, it is also possible to request a broader investigation through the Risk Center operated by the Banks Association of Turkey, which maintains data on accounts held at member institutions. This allows a court to request information about all accounts held by a given individual across multiple banks simultaneously, based on identity number alone. The response to such requests typically takes between two and four months depending on the workload of the institution and the court’s own calendar, and the resulting records are added to the case file where both parties and their counsel may examine them.

The court’s authority to compel the production of bank records is grounded not only in family law provisions but also in Articles 219 and 220 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which oblige parties to submit documents in their possession and authorize courts to order the production of documents held by third parties, including financial institutions.

The Role of Bank Records in Matrimonial Property Division

Once obtained, bank records serve several distinct functions in divorce and property division litigation. The primary use is establishing the composition and value of each spouse’s acquired property at the time the matrimonial property regime ends, which under Turkish law occurs on the date the divorce petition is filed. Account balances as of the filing date are taken as the reference point for the valuation of monetary assets. Movements that occurred after that date are generally excluded from the calculation, as the regime is deemed to have ended at the moment of filing.

Article 225 of the Turkish Civil Code: The matrimonial property regime ends on the date the divorce petition is filed, or, in other cases, on the date of the event that brings the regime to an end. With respect to the claim for participation in acquired property, the spouses may agree that the regime shall end on an earlier date.

Transaction histories are examined to trace the origin of funds and to determine whether deposits in an account represent acquired property subject to division or personal property that should be excluded. A salary credited to a bank account during the marriage is a textbook example of acquired property under Article 219 of the Turkish Civil Code. By contrast, an inheritance payment received into the same account and kept separately from other funds might qualify as personal property. However, the mixing of personal and acquired funds in a single account creates significant evidentiary difficulty.

Article 222 of the Turkish Civil Code: Each spouse must prove that a specific asset is personal property. Assets that cannot be proven to be the personal property of either spouse are presumed to be jointly acquired.

This presumption, established in Article 222, has important practical consequences for bank accounts. When personal funds and acquired funds have been deposited into the same account over the years without any clear documentation separating them, the entire balance is treated as acquired property subject to division. The Court of Cassation has consistently applied this presumption in cases where the account holder could not produce clear documentary evidence distinguishing the two categories of funds. For this reason, legal practitioners advise clients to maintain separate accounts for personal assets received through inheritance or gift from the outset of the marriage.

Asset Concealment, Suspicious Transfers, and Article 229

One of the most contentious issues that bank records help resolve is the suspicion of asset concealment or deliberate transfer of funds prior to or during the divorce proceedings. It is not uncommon for a spouse who anticipates divorce litigation to begin moving funds out of their accounts, transferring money to relatives, settling artificial debts with third parties, or withdrawing large cash amounts without clear justification. Turkish law addresses this behavior directly through Article 229 of the Turkish Civil Code, which provides that gratuitous transfers made by a spouse within one year before the end of the matrimonial property regime without the consent of the other spouse are added back to the transferring spouse’s acquired property for the purpose of calculating the participation claim.

Article 229 of the Turkish Civil Code: The following shall be added to the acquired property: gratuitous transfers made by one spouse without the consent of the other spouse within one year before the end of the matrimonial property regime, unless they are customarily required gifts; and transfers made with the evident intent to reduce the other spouse’s participation claim.

For transfers that fall outside the one-year window, the claiming spouse must demonstrate that the transfer was made with the evident intent to reduce the participation claim. Bank records provide the primary evidence in such disputes, allowing the court to identify patterns of withdrawal, the recipients of transferred funds, the timing of transactions relative to the onset of marital difficulties, and any unusual financial behavior that departs from the account holder’s normal conduct. When suspicious transfers are identified, the court may also authorize an investigation into the accounts of the third-party recipient if there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the transfer was made with fraudulent intent.

Interim Injunctions on Bank Accounts

A party who has reason to believe that the other spouse is dissipating or concealing assets may request the Family Court to issue an interim injunction freezing the relevant bank accounts. This application is made under Article 389 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which authorizes courts to grant interim measures where a right is at risk of being lost or seriously compromised before a final judgment can be obtained. To obtain such an injunction, the applicant must present concrete evidence or credible grounds demonstrating that the risk of dissipation is real, not merely speculative. A sudden withdrawal of large sums shortly before the divorce petition was filed, or transfers to close relatives coinciding with the breakdown of the marriage, may constitute sufficient grounds for the court to act.

Once issued, the injunction is communicated to the relevant bank by official letter, and the frozen funds cannot be withdrawn, transferred, or otherwise disposed of for the duration of the proceedings. The amount frozen is typically limited to the estimated value of the participation claim, and the court may require the applicant to provide security against potential damages to the account holder if the injunction turns out to have been unjustified.

Bank Records as Evidence for Alimony and Compensation

Beyond their role in property division, bank records serve as key evidence in establishing the financial circumstances of the parties for the purposes of alimony and compensation claims. When a spouse claims poverty alimony under Article 175 of the Turkish Civil Code on the grounds that the divorce would leave them in financial hardship, the court examines their bank accounts to determine whether they have sufficient assets to support themselves independently. Regular salary credits, savings balances, investment income, and property rental payments received into a bank account are all factors that may lead the court to deny or reduce the alimony claim.

Equally, the financial capacity of the spouse who would be required to pay alimony is assessed through bank records. A spouse who claims limited means while maintaining substantial account balances or receiving undisclosed income sources will be unable to conceal this from the court once the bank records have been obtained through the judicial letter process. The Court of Cassation has repeatedly reversed lower court decisions on alimony where the financial investigation was found to have been incomplete or where bank records had not been adequately examined before a determination was made.

Material compensation under Article 174 of the Turkish Civil Code is similarly influenced by the financial picture revealed through banking records. The calculation of the benefit lost as a result of the divorce, and the assessment of each party’s ability to pay or receive compensation, cannot be conducted accurately without a full view of the assets and income streams documented in the financial records.

Digital Assets and Emerging Issues

In recent years, divorce proceedings in Turkey have increasingly confronted the challenge of assets held in digital form, including cryptocurrency positions maintained on domestic and international exchanges. These assets are not held in traditional bank accounts and do not appear in standard banking records. However, deposit and withdrawal transactions linked to cryptocurrency exchanges typically pass through conventional bank accounts, creating a documentary trail that can be identified through account statement analysis.

Courts have begun to treat cryptocurrency holdings as acquired property subject to division where it can be established that the funds used to purchase the assets originated from income earned during the marriage. The evidentiary framework remains developing in this area, and the practical difficulty of quantifying crypto asset values and tracing ownership continues to pose challenges for both parties and courts in Turkish divorce proceedings.

Family Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, representing clients in divorce proceedings and matrimonial property liquidation cases involving complex financial investigations. His practice includes the pursuit and defense of bank account disclosures, participation claims, asset concealment disputes, and interim injunctions in proceedings before Istanbul’s Family Courts.

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.

The post Bank Account Investigation During Divorce Proceedings in Turkey first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The principle underlying the Turkish approach to name change is that names are not private matters left entirely to individual preference. Because a person’s name functions as a public identifier used in civil registry records, legal transactions, and relations with third parties, the law requires a substantiated justification before any change is permitted. The burden of demonstrating that justification rests entirely on the applicant.

The Statutory Framework Under Article 27 of the Turkish Civil Code

The foundational provision governing name changes in Turkish law is Article 27 of the Turkish Civil Code. This article establishes that the alteration of a name may only be requested from a judge on the basis of justified grounds. It further provides that upon approval of the request, the change is recorded in the civil registry and announced through the official announcement portal of the Press Advertising Authority, known as Basın İlan Kurumu, pursuant to an amendment introduced on November 14, 2024, by Law No. 7532. Crucially, the statute also makes clear that a change of name does not alter a person’s civil status. The identity of the individual, their family relationships, the validity of their contracts, and their rights and obligations remain exactly as they were before the name change.

Article 27 of the Turkish Civil Code: The alteration of a name may only be requested from a judge on the basis of justified grounds. The change of name is recorded in the civil registry and announced through the announcement portal of the Press Advertising Authority. A change of name does not alter a person’s civil status. A person who suffers damage as a result of the name change may file an action for the annulment of the change within one year from the date on which they learned of the change.

In addition to Article 27, the procedural aspects of name change cases are addressed in Article 36 of the Civil Registration Services Law No. 5490, which designates the Civil Court of First Instance as the court with subject-matter jurisdiction over civil registry correction and name change proceedings. The matter is also classified as a non-contentious judicial proceeding under Article 382 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, meaning that it is resolved through simplified procedural rules rather than the ordinary adversarial procedure applicable to contested civil disputes.

What Constitutes Justified Grounds

Article 27 of the Turkish Civil Code deliberately refrains from enumerating specific grounds for name change. The legislature left the assessment of whether a particular reason qualifies as a justified ground to the discretion of the judge, who is guided by the principle of equity under Article 4 of the Civil Code. Over decades of case law, the Court of Cassation has identified a range of circumstances that consistently qualify as justified grounds, though this body of precedent does not constitute an exhaustive list.

One of the most commonly accepted grounds is the discrepancy between a person’s registered name and the name by which they are actually known in their social environment. Turkish courts have long recognized that when a person has been called by a different name throughout their life by family, friends, and colleagues — while their official documents bear a different name — the resulting administrative friction and social dissonance constitutes a legitimate basis for change. The Court of Cassation has held in settled case law that the right to be known by the name one actually uses in life is a dimension of personal rights that the law should respect.

A second widely recognized ground is the ridiculous, offensive, or demeaning character of the registered name. Court of Cassation decisions have accepted name change requests where the applicant’s name carried a meaning that subjected them to mockery or derision, or where the name was associated with a historically or socially negative connotation. Names that are obscene, that reference animals in a pejorative context, or that carry meanings incompatible with human dignity have been treated as justifiable cases for change.

Difficulty of pronunciation constitutes a third established ground. Where a name is phonetically complex or unfamiliar to speakers of the language in the applicant’s environment — particularly in cases where a foreign-origin name cannot be easily rendered in Turkish — courts have accepted the practical difficulties this creates in daily life as a sufficient justification. This ground is particularly relevant for foreign nationals who have registered Turkish names that do not correspond to any name they actually use or recognize.

Religious conversion and change of nationality are also recognized as justifying grounds. When a person converts to a new religion, the retention of a name closely associated with a different religious tradition may conflict with their new identity, and courts have accepted this as a legitimate basis for change. Similarly, naturalization may generate a desire to adopt a name consistent with the culture or language of the new country of citizenship. However, Turkish courts have held that a person cannot adopt a surname belonging to a foreign language in place of their Turkish surname when the foreign surname itself has no connection to the applicant’s identity or background.

The existence of identical or nearly identical names and surnames within the same family or social community, creating persistent confusion in official records and daily life, has also been accepted as a justified ground in appropriate cases. Additionally, the association of a name with a traumatic personal experience or with a notorious or disreputable individual sharing the same name has been acknowledged in certain decisions as capable of meeting the threshold.

Surname Change and the Surname Law

Turkish law addresses given names and surnames through the same provision of the Civil Code, but the Surname Law No. 2525 imposes additional constraints on the permissible content of surnames. Under the Surname Law, surnames must comply with Turkish linguistic and cultural standards, and certain categories of surnames — including those that are offensive, that reference foreign cultures in a manner inconsistent with national values, or that take the form of a foreign surname without connection to the applicant — are not permissible. This means that the court assessing a surname change petition must evaluate not only whether the applicant has presented a justified ground but also whether the requested new surname satisfies the substantive requirements of the Surname Law.

One practical implication of this framework is that a Turkish citizen who has married a foreign national and has been using that spouse’s foreign surname in the country of residence cannot generally obtain a judgment in Turkey replacing their Turkish surname with the foreign one, unless specific circumstances justify an exception.

When a married man obtains a court judgment changing his surname, the new surname automatically extends to his wife during the subsistence of the marriage and to their minor children, without any separate court proceeding. This ripple effect must be taken into account when deciding whether and how to pursue a surname change, as it affects the civil registry records of other family members.

The Court Proceeding: Competence, Venue, and Procedure

Name change proceedings in Turkey are heard by the Civil Court of First Instance. The court with territorial jurisdiction is the court at the place where the applicant has their registered residence. For Turkish citizens residing abroad who wish to initiate name change proceedings in Turkey, jurisdiction is determined by reference to their last known place of residence in Turkey, and in the absence of such a place, the provisions of the Act on International Private and Procedural Law may apply to determine the appropriate venue.

The Civil Registry Directorate is named as the formal respondent in name change proceedings. This is a procedural requirement rather than an indication of genuine adversarial opposition. The Civil Registry Directorate does not, in practice, contest the merits of most name change applications; it participates in the proceedings because the outcome directly affects the official records it maintains and because a formal respondent is required even in non-contentious proceedings.

The applicant must file a petition with the competent court setting out the full particulars of their current registered name, the name they wish to adopt, and the factual and legal basis for the request. The petition must be accompanied by a copy of the applicant’s identity document and their civil registry extract. The petition should be drafted with care, as courts assess the coherence and credibility of the justification presented, and a petition that fails to articulate a genuine and substantiated ground may result in rejection without the opportunity to cure the deficiency.

Because the proceeding is classified as non-contentious, the simplified procedural rules under the Code of Civil Procedure apply. The court may schedule one or more hearings and typically orders an investigation through law enforcement authorities to verify whether the applicant is actually known by the name they claim to use in their social environment. Witness testimony is the most common form of evidence relied upon to establish social recognition under a different name. In cases where the ground is more objective in character — such as the offensive meaning of a name or its phonetic difficulty — witness evidence may be less central, and the judge may reach a conclusion on the basis of the petition and identity documents alone.

Evidence, Proof, and the Judge’s Discretion

The burden of proving that the grounds for a name change exist rests on the applicant. Turkish law permits the use of any legally recognized form of evidence to discharge this burden, and the choice of evidence will depend on the nature of the ground being relied upon. For social recognition claims, testimony from family members, neighbors, colleagues, and community members is typically the most persuasive form of evidence. For claims based on offensive meaning or linguistic difficulty, the court may rely on its own assessment supplemented by any supporting documentation the applicant provides.

The judge retains broad discretion under Article 4 of the Civil Code to assess whether the evidence presented establishes a justified ground and to weigh the applicant’s interest in the name change against any competing public interest in the stability of civil registry records. This discretion means that the outcome of name change proceedings is not always predictable, and the manner in which the application is presented and argued can significantly influence the result.

Where the court grants the name change, the judgment becomes final after the expiration of the appeal period, which begins on the date of notification of the reasoned judgment. An appeal may be filed with the regional court of appeal, and a further appeal to the Court of Cassation is available in limited circumstances. Once the judgment becomes final, the court transmits it to the Press Advertising Authority for announcement through the official portal and subsequently to the relevant Civil Registry Directorate for registration. The new name takes legal effect from the date of registration in the civil registry.

Third-Party Challenges and the Limits of Res Judicata

Article 27 of the Civil Code expressly provides that a person who suffers damage as a result of a name change may file an action for the annulment of the change within one year from the date on which they learned of it. This provision acknowledges that a name change can, in certain circumstances, affect the rights or interests of third parties — for instance, where the adoption of a new name creates confusion with an established business name, a professional reputation, or the identity of another individual. The one-year period for challenging a name change begins to run not from the date of the judgment or its registration, but from the date on which the third party actually learned of the change.

It is also important to note that judgments in name change proceedings do not produce res judicata in the traditional sense. A rejected application does not permanently bar the applicant from filing a new application based on different or newly arising grounds. This position was confirmed by a 2012 ruling of the Constitutional Court, which struck down a statutory provision that had previously limited name change proceedings to a single attempt per person, finding that such a restriction unconstitutionally constrained the exercise of personal rights.

Civil Registry – Attorney Ozan Soylu in Istanbul

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, advising and representing clients in civil registry matters, including name and surname change proceedings before the Civil Courts of First Instance. His practice covers applications by both Turkish citizens and foreign nationals seeking to regularize their registered name in Turkey, as well as cases involving the correction of civil registry records and cross-border personal status issues.

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.

The post Legal Name Change Proceedings Under Turkish Law first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.

The procedural framework governing appeals in civil matters, including family law disputes, is set out in the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, commonly referred to as the HMK. Under this framework, a party who disagrees with a Family Court judgment has access to two successive channels of review: the regional court of appeal, known as the Bölge Adliye Mahkemesi or BAM, and the Court of Cassation, known as the Yargıtay.

The Reasoned Judgment and Its Role in Triggering Appeal Deadlines

When a Family Court judge announces the outcome of a divorce case at the end of a hearing, this announcement is referred to as the tefhim. However, the oral announcement does not in itself trigger the appeal deadlines. The appeal period begins only upon formal notification of the reasoned written judgment, known as the gerekçeli karar, to the parties. The reasoned judgment is the document in which the court sets out the factual findings it has relied upon, the legal provisions it has applied, its assessment of fault, and the basis for each element of its ruling, including the divorce itself, custody, alimony, and compensation.

The preparation and delivery of the reasoned judgment may take several weeks or even months after the oral announcement, depending on the workload of the court and the complexity of the case. During this interval, neither appeal deadline runs. Once the reasoned judgment is formally served on each party, the two-week window for filing an appeal to the regional court of appeal begins to run from the date of that party’s individual notification. If the parties receive the notification on different dates, the deadlines run separately for each.

The Regional Court of Appeal: First-Level Review

The regional courts of appeal, established across Turkey following the 2017 judicial reform, serve as the first layer of appellate review for civil judgments, including divorce decisions. A party who wishes to challenge a Family Court judgment must file an appeal petition with the court that issued the judgment, addressed to the competent regional court of appeal, within two weeks of receiving formal notification of the reasoned judgment.

Article 341 of the Code of Civil Procedure: Final decisions rendered by courts of first instance may be subject to appeal through the regional court of appeal. Appeal petitions shall be submitted to the court that rendered the contested decision.

This two-week deadline is absolute. A party who misses it loses the right to appeal before the regional court, and the judgment becomes final with respect to that party regardless of whether the other party has also appealed. If only one party files an appeal, the regional court’s review is generally limited to the scope of that party’s objections, though certain matters relating to public order — such as child custody and the dissolution of the marriage bond itself — may be examined by the court on its own motion.

The regional court of appeal conducts a full review of the case, examining both the factual findings of the lower court and the legal conclusions drawn from them. This distinguishes the regional court of appeal from the Court of Cassation, which reviews only questions of law. The BAM may, if it finds the hearing record insufficient, schedule a new hearing, take additional evidence, or commission a fresh expert report. At the end of its review, the regional court may uphold the Family Court’s decision, modify it, reverse it, or in certain circumstances send the case back to the court of first instance for a fresh examination of specific issues.

Article 353 of the Code of Civil Procedure: The regional court of appeal may, where appropriate, conduct a hearing and gather new evidence. It may uphold, modify, or reverse the judgment of the court of first instance, or remand the case for reconsideration of specific matters.

In practice, proceedings before the regional courts of appeal in major cities such as Istanbul take considerably longer than the formal rules might suggest. Given the volume of family law cases pending before courts such as the Istanbul Regional Court of Appeal, parties should expect the BAM process to last between eight and fourteen months in typical cases, though this varies depending on the complexity of the dispute and whether a new hearing is ordered.

The Court of Cassation: Second-Level Review

If a party is dissatisfied with the outcome of the regional court of appeal proceedings, a further avenue of review is available before the Court of Cassation, known as temyiz. The petition for cassation review must be filed within two weeks of the formal notification of the regional court’s reasoned decision. Unlike the regional court of appeal, which examines both facts and law, the Court of Cassation confines its review strictly to questions of legal correctness. It does not re-examine witness testimony, re-weigh evidence, or substitute its factual findings for those of the lower courts. Its role is to determine whether the applicable legal rules were identified correctly and applied in the manner prescribed by law.

Article 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure: Final decisions of the regional courts of appeal in matters concerning family law and personal status are subject to review by the Court of Cassation.

An important distinction applies between the divorce judgment itself and the ancillary financial matters that are decided as part of the same proceeding. The court’s ruling on the dissolution of the marriage — that is, the decision to grant or refuse the divorce — is always subject to cassation review regardless of the amounts involved. However, the rulings on financial matters such as alimony and material or moral compensation are only subject to cassation review if the disputed amount exceeds the statutory monetary threshold established for that year. This threshold is adjusted annually. For the year 2026, the cassation threshold for ancillary financial claims is set at a level that places a significant portion of modest alimony and compensation awards outside the scope of cassation review. Parties whose financial claims fall below the threshold must accept the regional court’s ruling on those matters as final.

Custody decisions, by contrast, are treated differently. Because custody matters directly affect the welfare of a child and are classified as relating to personal status, they are generally subject to cassation review without a monetary threshold. The Court of Cassation’s Third Civil Division has historically been the chamber responsible for examining divorce and family law appeals, though the allocation of cases among chambers may be subject to internal reorganization.

Upon completing its review, the Court of Cassation may uphold the regional court’s decision, correct and uphold it where the error is minor and does not affect the outcome, or quash the decision and remand the case to the relevant court for a fresh examination. If the decision is quashed, the remanded court is required to conduct new proceedings in light of the Court of Cassation’s guidance, which may result in a substantially different outcome on the issues that were found to be legally defective.

The Legal Status of the Marriage Pending Appeal

One of the most practically significant consequences of the appeal system in Turkish divorce law is that the marriage is not dissolved until the divorce judgment becomes final. A judgment that is under appeal is not a final judgment. Accordingly, the parties remain legally married throughout the appeal process, regardless of how many years the process may take. They may not contract a new marriage, and their mutual inheritance rights continue to exist under Turkish civil law until the divorce is finalized.

This principle has several further implications. The three-hundred-day waiting period imposed on women before they may remarry after a divorce does not begin to run until the divorce judgment becomes final. Similarly, the date of finalization of the divorce judgment is the reference point for calculating the end of the matrimonial property regime, since claims relating to the liquidation of the regime of participation in acquired property may only be pursued after the dissolution of the marriage bond has been definitively established.

Parties who have been awarded alimony or compensation by the Family Court but whose judgment is under appeal may, in certain circumstances, enforce the financial portions of the decision provisionally before finalization. However, enforcement of the divorce itself — meaning the actual dissolution of the marriage — must await the final judgment.

Partial Appeals and the Scope of Review

A divorce judgment often covers multiple issues in a single ruling: the dissolution of the marriage, the allocation of fault, custody and visitation rights, spousal alimony, child support, material and moral compensation, and the correction of civil registry records. A dissatisfied party is not required to challenge the entire judgment. It is possible to file a partial appeal, contesting only specific aspects of the ruling while accepting others.

Partial appeals are particularly common in practice when one party accepts the divorce itself but disputes the fault attribution or the amount of financial awards. In such cases, the scope of the appellate court’s review is generally confined to the aspects of the judgment that are expressly challenged. However, where the contested issue is inseparable from another aspect of the judgment — for example, where the fault finding is challenged in a way that necessarily affects the entitlement to compensation — the appellate court may need to review the interrelated matters together.

The Court of Cassation has developed a substantial body of precedent regarding the criteria for fault assessment in divorce cases, the methodology for calculating alimony and compensation, and the standards applicable to custody determinations. A well-prepared cassation petition will specifically identify the legal errors alleged, reference the relevant precedent, and explain why the regional court’s reasoning failed to comply with the applicable rules. A petition that merely expresses general dissatisfaction with the outcome without identifying specific legal defects is unlikely to result in a reversal.

Waiving Appeal Rights and Accelerating Finalization

The parties are not obligated to use the appeal channels available to them. A party who is satisfied with the Family Court’s judgment — or who prefers a faster finalization for practical reasons — may formally waive the right to appeal. If both parties waive their appeal rights, the judgment becomes final immediately without the need for the two-week periods to expire. This is a common approach in uncontested divorce cases where the parties have agreed on all terms and have no incentive to delay finalization.

Even where only one party waives the right to appeal, the judgment does not become final until the other party’s appeal window has also closed or that party has also filed a waiver. The Family Court issues a formal finalization certificate, known as the kesinleşme şerhi, once all appeal rights have been exhausted or waived. This certificate is the document that the civil registry authority requires in order to update the marital status records and formally dissolve the marriage in the official register.

Divorce Lawyer in Istanbul – Attorney Ozan Soylu

Attorney Ozan Soylu is a practicing lawyer based in Istanbul, representing clients in contested divorce proceedings and appellate matters before the regional courts of appeal and the Court of Cassation. His practice covers challenges to fault attributions, alimony and compensation disputes, custody appeals, and the full range of procedural issues arising after a Family Court judgment is issued.

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.

The post Appealing a Divorce Court Decision Under Turkish Law first appeared on Ozan Soylu Law Office.