Is a Will Made Abroad Valid for Turkish Assets?

A will made abroad, in a foreign form and under a foreign law, can generally be given effect over a deceased person's Turkish assets, provided it satisfies the applicable conflict-of-law rules on form and, where Turkish law governs the succession or the specific asset, does not conflict with mandatory Turkish inheritance rules such as reserved portions for close family members. It is not automatically invalid simply because it was not made using a Turkish notarial form, but it should be reviewed against these rules before heirs rely on it.

Different countries recognise different forms of will: notarial wills, handwritten (holographic) wills, witnessed wills, and others, each with its own formal requirements. When a will made abroad needs to affect assets in Turkiye, two separate questions arise: first, whether the will is formally valid at all (a question generally governed by conflict-of-law rules that look at where and how the will was made), and second, whether its content can be fully carried out under Turkish law, particularly where Turkish law reserves a portion of the estate for certain close relatives regardless of what the will says.

International private law rules on succession generally allow a will's formal validity to be judged against several possible connecting factors, such as the law of the place where the will was made or the testator's national law at the relevant time, giving a will made abroad a reasonable chance of being recognised as formally valid in Turkiye even without a Turkish notarial form. The Turkish Civil Code's inheritance provisions, including its rules on reserved portions for certain heirs, remain relevant to the will's content and effect specifically where Turkish law applies, most notably for immovable property located in Turkiye, since Turkish law is reserved for that category of asset regardless of what law otherwise governs the succession.

Turkish courts and notaries handling a foreign will generally begin by confirming formal validity, checking the will's form against the connecting factors recognised under the applicable conflict-of-law rule, before turning to whether its dispositions can be carried out in full under Turkish law. Where the will's terms would leave a reserved-portion heir with less than their protected share of assets governed by Turkish law, that heir retains the ability to bring an action for abatement (tenkis) regardless of what the foreign will states, since reserved portions are treated as a matter of Turkish public policy for assets Turkish law governs.

A frequently discussed issue is how to apply the reserved-portion protections where the deceased's overall estate is spread across multiple countries and only part of it (typically Turkish real estate) is governed by Turkish law, since a foreign will might otherwise appear to distribute the whole estate consistently under a different legal system. Commentators generally agree that the reserved-portion analysis should focus specifically on the assets Turkish law actually governs, rather than assuming the will is either wholly valid or wholly invalid as a single, indivisible document.

Heirs or the executor should confirm the will's formal validity against the applicable conflict-of-law rule, identify which Turkish assets, if any, are governed by Turkish law regardless of the will's own choice of law, and assess whether any reserved-portion heir has a potential abatement claim against the Turkish-governed portion of the estate before relying on the will as a complete and final answer for Turkish purposes.

There is no separate deadline for recognising a foreign will's validity as such, but a reserved-portion heir's action for abatement is subject to its own statutory limitation period once they become aware of the will and of the infringement of their reserved share, so this should be assessed promptly where relevant.

The competent Turkish civil court, or in more straightforward cases a Turkish notary, addresses formal validity and the practical steps for giving effect to the will over Turkish assets. Where a reserved-portion dispute arises, the competent civil court handles the abatement action as contested inheritance litigation.

• The original foreign will, or a properly authenticated and translated copy.
• Evidence of the form in which the will was executed and the law of the place where it was made.
• The death certificate and documentation identifying the heirs, including any reserved-portion heirs.
• Records identifying the specific Turkish assets affected by the will.

A common misconception is assuming a will not made in Turkish notarial form is automatically invalid for Turkish purposes; conflict-of-law rules give foreign-form wills a real chance of recognition. An equally common and opposite misconception is assuming a foreign will can freely override Turkish reserved-portion protections simply because it was validly made abroad; those protections remain relevant wherever Turkish law governs the relevant assets.

Does a will need to be made before a Turkish notary to be valid for Turkish assets? No, though its form still needs to satisfy the applicable conflict-of-law rule on formal validity.

Can a foreign will disinherit a child or spouse entirely regarding Turkish real estate? Generally not fully, since reserved-portion protections under Turkish law apply to assets Turkish law governs, regardless of the will's terms.

What if the will was handwritten and not witnessed? This depends on whether that form is recognised as valid under the relevant connecting law; some legal systems accept holographic wills and some do not.

Should a foreign will be re-executed in Turkish form to avoid problems? This can reduce uncertainty for Turkish assets specifically, and is worth considering on a case-by-case basis, though it is not always necessary if the original will already satisfies the applicable form requirements.

We review a foreign will's form and content separately against Turkish conflict-of-law and reserved-portion rules before advising heirs on how much certainty it actually provides for Turkish assets, rather than treating the will as automatically final simply because it was validly made abroad.