Inheritance law in Turkey after the death of foreign nationals who own real estate in Turkey
The recent changes made in the real estate ownership law in Turkey, it has become easier for foreigners to own real estate. Questions have increased regarding what will be the status of real estate in Turkey in the case of the death of foreign nationals, their exodus, or the withdrawal of Turkish citizenship from them.
We will briefly and clearly explain the most important points regarding the inheritance law for foreigners in Turkey
Inheritance according to Turkish law
* According to Article 20/2 of Law No. 5718, the provisions relating to inheritance, possession and division are subject to the law of the Turkish state
Also, in Article 20/1 of the Turkish Inheritance Law, the inheritance is subject to the national law “meaning the law of the Turkish state”, which means that the Turkish law will be applied regarding the deceased’s real estate located in Turkey without regard to the mother nationality he holds.
In other words, the law of the country whose nationality the deceased person holds will not apply, but rather the Turkish inheritance law will be applied with respect to his real estate located in Turkey.
How do the heirs of foreign nationals use their rights in the Turkish inheritance law?
* After the death of a foreign person who owns real estate in Turkey, regardless of whether this person or his heirs are Turkish citizens or not, foreign nationals benefit from all legal rights related to that property.
For this, it is required to extract the inheritance inventory document that is extracted from the Turkish courts in order to carry out the procedures for transferring real estate located in Turkey to the legal heirs.
This means that an inheritance inventory document must be obtained from a Turkish court because the transfer process related to real estate in Turkey will not be carried out with an inheritance inventory document issued by a foreign country “that is, the mother country of the deceased person”
How to obtain an inheritance inventory document in Turkey
* The legal heir of the deceased foreigner must translate the inheritance inventory document into Turkish, ratify it by the notary public, and submit an application to the Magistrate’s Court in the region where the property is located to issue an inheritance inventory document to be used within Turkish lands and institutions.
And since the issuance of the inheritance inventory document is considered an urgent procedure, this document will be secured by the court within a short period of time.
After obtaining the inheritance inventory document, they go to the Real Estate Records Directorate and carry out the procedure of transferring the property registry to the legal heirs with ease. “All these procedures can be done by a Turkish lawyer”
Briefly required documents are:
- Translation of the inheritance inventory document issued by the foreign country and the death certificate of the deceased person into Turkish and authenticated by the notary public
- Going to the Magistrate’s Court in the area where the property is located to issue a document collection of the inheritance.
- Go to the Directorate of Real Estate Records and have the inheritance inventory document issued by the Turkish court to carry out the process of transferring ownership of real estate
Who are the legal heirs in Turkish law?
- If the deceased had a wife and children living regardless of their gender, whether male or female, then ¼ of the inheritance for the wife and ¾ of the inheritance for the children are entitled.
- If only children live, the entire inheritance is divided equally among the children, regardless of whether they are male or female.
- If the deceased person has no children, the inheritance is divided between the wife and parents, and in this case ½ of the inheritance is entitled to the wife and the other half to the parents.
These are the inheritance rights in the Turkish inheritance law. This situation varies according to the relatives of the deceased who live (children, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, brothers and others) and if the deceased does not have any legal heirs and if he does not have a will written according to Turkish law, the entire money remains for the state treasury of the Republic of Turkey.
Inheritance law in Turkey
For consultations, you can contact one of the consultants of El-Tezam Real Estate Company by calling or WhatsApp after clicking on the number: 00905426792293
Read also: Obtaining Turkish citizenship through real estate investment in Turkey