Turkish law protects reserved shares for qualifying descendants, parents and a surviving spouse, subject to statutory exceptions such as lawful disinheritance. Abatement claims have a one-year knowledge-based deadline and a ten-year outer period with different starting points for wills and other dispositions. Alleged collusive transfers require separate factual and legal assessment.
Turkish succession law does not allow a person to leave their estate entirely as they please. A defined group of close relatives holds a reserved share (saklı pay) protected against dispositions that infringe it, subject to statutory exceptions, including lawful disinheritance under Article 510 of the Civil Code. When it is taken away anyway, usually through a will or through a transfer made during the deceased's lifetime that was not really a sale, the remedy is a lawsuit, and each type of lawsuit has its own deadline.
The reserved share is a fraction of the heir's statutory share, not of the whole estate.
| Heir | Reserved portion of their statutory share |
|---|---|
| Descendants (children, grandchildren) | One half |
| Mother and father | One quarter |
| Surviving spouse, when inheriting alongside descendants or alongside the parents' branch | The whole of the statutory share |
| Surviving spouse, in other cases | Three quarters |
Siblings no longer hold a reserved share. Whatever is left after the reserved shares, the disposable portion, the deceased was free to give to anyone.
Where a will or a lifetime gift has eaten into a reserved share, the remedy is an abatement action (tenkis davası). It does not annul the disposition; it cuts it back to the extent needed to restore the reserved share.
The time limit is the trap. The right to bring an abatement action is lost after one year from the date the heir learns that their reserved share has been infringed, and in any event after ten years, running from the opening of the will for testamentary dispositions and from the opening of the succession for other dispositions. One year is short, and it starts when you learn of the infringement, not when the estate is finally distributed.
One pattern that may give rise to a dispute concerns a lifetime transfer rather than a will. The deceased transfers property during their lifetime to one child, recorded at the Land Registry as a sale, while in reality it was a gift intended to keep that property out of the estate and away from the other heirs.
Where this is established, the recorded sale is treated as void as a simulated transaction, and the underlying gift is void as well for want of the required form. A potential remedy is cancellation of the title and re-registration. The extent of relief depends on the claimant's entitlement, the claim and the proven facts; it is not an automatic return of the whole property in every case. Not every gift or unpaid family transaction meets the conditions of this doctrine.
The critical practical difference: this claim is not subject to the one-year abatement period. Missing an abatement deadline does not itself establish a collusive-transfer claim; the legal basis and evidence must be assessed separately.
What the court looks for is the gap between the recorded transaction and reality: a sale price far below value, no evidence that any price was ever paid, a transferee with no means to pay it, the deceased continuing to use the property, and the timing and health of the deceased at the transfer.
A will can be annulled where the testator lacked capacity when making it, where it was the product of mistake, fraud, duress or undue influence, where its content is unlawful or contrary to morality, or where the formal requirements were not observed. Turkish law recognises official wills made before a notary, wills written entirely in the testator's own hand and signed and dated, and oral wills in narrowly defined emergencies.
An annulment action is subject to limitation periods running from the date the claimant learns of the ground and of the will, so, as with abatement, the moment of knowledge has to be established carefully.
Establish the estate before arguing about it. Obtain the certificate of inheritance, then the title deed records, including the transfer history, which is where lifetime transfers become visible, and the bank and vehicle records. Registry history may be important evidence; access and the documents needed depend on the applicant's standing and the claim.
Reserved shares are protected, but not absolutely immune from the statutory exceptions. Article 510 permits disinheritance on specified serious grounds. Whether a disposition, disinheritance or other arrangement is valid requires review of the facts and applicable formalities.
An abatement action is barred one year after the heir learns that the reserved share has been infringed, and in any event ten years after the opening of the will for testamentary dispositions or the opening of the succession for other dispositions.
A recorded sale concealing a gift may warrant investigation as muris muvazaası, but absence of payment alone does not decide the case. Title cancellation and re-registration depend on the doctrine’s conditions, evidence and the claimant’s entitlement. The one-year abatement deadline is not simply transferred to this distinct claim.
Yes, on grounds of lack of capacity, mistake, fraud, duress or undue influence, unlawful or immoral content, or failure to observe the required form. Limitation periods run from when the claimant learns of the ground and of the will.
No. The estate can be administered and disputes litigated under a power of attorney. Note that where an heir is a foreign national the certificate of inheritance is obtained from the court rather than a notary, and Turkish courts have exclusive jurisdiction over property located in Türkiye.
Source-check update: 27 September 2026. General information, not a determination of any heir's rights or a promise of litigation success.
