Reserved Portion (Forced Heirship)

The Turkish Civil Code protects three groups: the descendants of the deceased, the parents of the deceased, and the surviving spouse. Each group has a reserved fraction of the share it would receive under the statutory order of succession, and the fraction differs between the groups. Other relatives have no reserved portion and can be excluded by will. Whether a foreign heir benefits depends on the law applicable to the succession, so the first question in a cross-border estate is which law governs the Turkish asset.

Both testamentary dispositions and lifetime transfers can be affected. A will leaving the reserved heir less than their protected fraction is the obvious case, but the Turkish Civil Code also brings certain gifts made during the deceased's lifetime into the calculation, so that lifetime donations infringing the reserved portion may also be subject to abatement. The reserved heir need not show that the will is invalid; the disposition remains effective but is reduced to the extent it exceeds the disposable part of the estate. Validity, interpretation and abatement are different claims, so the exact complaint must be identified before filing.

The remedy is the action for abatement (tenkis davası), brought by a reserved heir against the beneficiaries of the infringing dispositions before the civil courts handling contested inheritance disputes. The claimant must prove their status as a reserved heir, the value of the estate and the dispositions exceeding the disposable part; the court then reduces them accordingly. The action is subject to strict limitation periods under Turkish law, with the starting point depending on when the heir learned of the infringement and the opening of the estate. The will, heirship documents and asset details should be assembled at the outset.

Not automatically. A will made abroad may be relevant to Turkish assets, but its form, validity and usability in Türkiye must be checked, and the applicable-law rules of Law No. 5718 determine whether Turkish reserved portion rules apply to the succession. Where they do, a foreign will that ignores them is not void, but reserved heirs may bring an abatement claim against the dispositions. Land registry offices and banks generally wait for legally usable documents or a court decision where the estate is disputed. Foreign documents must also be apostilled or legalised and translated before substantive review.