Under the Turkish Civil Code, a surviving spouse inherits one quarter of the estate alongside children, who share the other three quarters equally. With no children, the spouse takes one half and the parents, or the siblings in place of a parent who died earlier, share the other half. Otherwise the spouse takes three quarters alongside the grandparents' class, or the whole estate. Turkish law applies to all immovable property in Türkiye, including property owned by foreigners.
Turkish law divides heirs into classes. The nearest class with a living member inherits, and the surviving spouse inherits alongside that class. The calculator applies the statutory shares of the Turkish Civil Code, Law No. 4721.
A will cannot reduce certain heirs below their reserved share (saklı pay) under Article 506: half of the statutory share for descendants, one quarter of it for each parent, and for the spouse the whole statutory share when inheriting with descendants or the parents' class, three quarters of it otherwise. Siblings have had no reserved share since 2007.
Under Article 20 of the Code on Private International and Procedural Law, Law No. 5718, succession follows the deceased's national law, but Turkish law always applies to immovable property located in Türkiye. A flat in Istanbul left by a foreign owner is therefore divided under these rules. For the next steps see our guides on obtaining a certificate of inheritance and transferring an inherited title deed, or our inheritance law service.
Yes. Turkish law applies to immovable property located in Türkiye whatever the owner's nationality (Article 20 of Law No. 5718).
Yes. An adopted child and his or her descendants inherit from the adoptive parent like blood relatives (Article 500).
No. Shares become official only through a certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi) issued by a notary or a civil court of peace.
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