How to make a Turkish will for property and family

Who can make a will in Turkey?

The Turkish Civil Code says a person must have discernment and have completed the age of 15 to make a will. A foreigner’s capacity is also a private-international-law question: Article 20(5) of Law No. 5718 refers testamentary capacity to the testator’s national law at the time of making the disposition. The notary or other authorised official may therefore need identity and capacity documents in addition to the intended wording.

A will deals with the disposable part of an estate. It does not turn a beneficiary into the owner of a Turkish house during the owner’s lifetime, and it does not bypass the succession certificate or land-registry process after death. Owners should identify each Turkish property by its tapu (title deed) and parcel information rather than relying only on an informal address.

What forms of will does Turkish law recognise?

Official will before a notary or other authorised official

A Turkish official will (resmî vasiyetname) is made before an authorised official with two witnesses. The official can be a Sulh judge, a notary or another person given authority by law. The testator explains the wishes; the official writes or dictates the document, gives it to the testator to read and signs it with a date. The testator then states before the official and two witnesses that the document contains the final wishes, and the witnesses sign the required statement.

If the testator cannot read or sign, the Civil Code provides a different reading and declaration procedure before two witnesses. Witness and official participation rules matter: persons lacking capacity, certain relatives and other excluded persons cannot participate, and gifts to the official or witnesses and specified relatives are restricted. The notary or official should confirm the current practical requirements before an appointment.

The official who makes an official will must keep the original. That gives the document a formal custody route, but the people managing the estate still need to know that a will exists and provide the court with relevant information after death.

Handwritten will

A handwritten will (el yazılı vasiyetname) must be written by the testator’s own hand from beginning to end. It must show the day, month and year and must be signed. A typed document, a printed template with a handwritten signature or a document completed by another person is not the same as the form described in Civil Code Article 538.

The handwritten original may be deposited openly or sealed with a notary, Sulh judge or authorised official for safekeeping. A person who keeps it privately should consider how the document will be found and delivered after death. A copy or scan helps identify the document but does not replace the legally relevant original.

Oral will in an extraordinary situation

An oral will (sözlü vasiyet) is not an ordinary alternative to an official or handwritten will. It is available only when circumstances such as imminent danger of death, an interruption of transport, illness or war prevent the person from making one of the other forms. The testator states the final wishes to two witnesses and instructs them to write or have them written as a will.

One witness must promptly write the declaration, including the place, year and day, sign it and obtain the other witness’s signature. The two witnesses must deliver the document without delay to a Sulh or Asliye court and state that they considered the testator capable of making a will. When the extraordinary situation ends and another form becomes possible, the oral will falls away after one month under Article 541.

A miras sözleşmesi (inheritance contract) is a separate instrument, not another casual will. Its validity requires the official-will form, with both parties making their wishes before the official and two witnesses. It should not be used without advice on its different legal effect.

Is a foreign will valid for Turkish property?

Article 20 of Law No. 5718 says the form of a testamentary disposition follows Article 7, and a disposition made in a form complying with the deceased’s national law is valid in form. Article 7 permits a legal transaction to follow the form required by the law of the country where it was made or by the law governing its substance.

That does not mean a foreign will controls every consequence in Turkey. The same Article 20 applies Turkish law to immovables located in Turkey and connects the opening, acquisition and division of the estate to the place where the estate is located. Turkish reserved shares, title-deed registration and the Turkish succession certificate still need to be addressed for a house or land in Fethiye.

A foreign will and foreign civil-status records may need an apostille or legalisation and a Turkish sworn translation. Turkey participates in the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, but an apostille is not automatic for every document: the issuing country, document type and Turkish receiving authority must accept that route. Keep the original and ask the relevant authority what it will require before sending it to Turkey.

The inheritance in Turkey guide explains the law governing foreign heirs, the certificate process and tax steps. A foreign will should not be treated as a substitute for that process.

How do reserved shares limit a Turkish will?

Turkish protected portions are called saklı pay (reserved shares). Civil Code Article 505 allows a testator with descendants, parents or a spouse to dispose only of the part outside the protected portions. Article 506 sets the proportions:

Person with a reserved share	Protected portion
Each descendant	One-half of that person’s legal share
Each parent	One-quarter of that parent’s legal share
Surviving spouse inheriting with descendants or parents	The whole of the spouse’s legal share
Surviving spouse in the other listed combinations	Three-quarters of the spouse’s legal share

The calculation is not simply a percentage of today’s property value. The estate is assessed at death, relevant debts and expenses may affect the disposable part, and the statutory family class must be identified. A gift made during life can also require separate analysis if it affects a protected portion.

A beneficiary or heir who says a will exceeds the disposable part may seek reduction (tenkis) to restore the reserved share. Formal invalidity, incapacity, undue influence or other grounds raise different questions. A document should be reviewed before an heir signs a settlement or a beneficiary sells an inherited property.

How should a will be stored and registered?

For an official will, the official who prepared it keeps the original under Civil Code Article 537. For a handwritten will, the testator can leave it open or sealed with a notary, Sulh judge or authorised official under Article 538. The person should retain a record of where it was deposited and tell a trusted estate contact enough to locate it without changing the original.

After the testator dies, anyone who finds a will must deliver it promptly to the Sulh judge, whether or not the document appears valid. The judge examines it and opens it within one month of delivery, then notifies known heirs and other interested persons about the relevant parts. The will should not be held back while family members debate its validity.

These rules describe custody and court delivery. They do not support a general claim that every foreign will is automatically placed in one worldwide or Turkish public register. Ask the chosen notary or court what record is made, how the original can be retrieved and which identity documents are needed.

Can a Turkish will sit alongside a will at home?

It may be possible to coordinate a Turkish will with a home-country will, but the documents must be drafted as one estate plan. Two documents that both give the same Fethiye property to different people create an avoidable dispute. A later will made in a statutory form can revoke an earlier will in whole or in part under Article 542; under Article 544, a later will normally replaces the earlier one unless it clearly supplements it.

A practical plan should identify which document covers Turkish immovables, which document covers assets at home, and whether a later instrument is intended to supplement rather than revoke. It should also account for the deceased’s national law, Turkish reserved shares and any law governing the other country. A clause that sounds clear in English may not have the same effect after translation.

Do not sign a second will merely to repeat the first. Keep an indexed asset list, obtain advice on revocation wording and update both documents when property, marriage, divorce, children or residence changes. The inheritance and wills service can review the Turkish-property side of a cross-border plan.

What practical steps should a Fethiye property owner take?

1. List the assets. Record each Fethiye property, parcel number, ownership share, mortgage or annotation and any asset held jointly.
2. Map the family. Identify a spouse, descendants, parents and adopted children, and note any earlier death, divorce or disputed relationship.
3. Choose the form. Use an official will for a formal appointment route, a handwritten will only if every statutory requirement can be followed, and an oral will only for the exceptional circumstances described above.
4. Prepare language and identity documents. Ask the notary or authorised official what translation, interpreter, witness and capacity documents are needed. Do not assume a foreign template matches Turkish form requirements.
5. Store the original safely. Use the official custody route or deposit a handwritten will with an authorised custodian. Keep a location record without altering the document.
6. Coordinate the home-country will. State which will covers which assets, review revocation clauses and check reserved-share consequences in both systems.
7. Plan representation if living abroad. If future title or court work may require attendance, ask what power of attorney would be suitable. The power of attorney in Turkey guide covers authority and document questions.

A will does not complete a future title transfer. After death, heirs may need a Turkish succession certificate, tax declaration and Tapu Müdürlüğü application. Property owners considering a purchase, title review or co-ownership plan can also read the property law service.

What does making a will in Turkey cost?

The cost depends on the form, the official or notary, witnesses, translation, interpreter, apostille or legalisation, document review and whether a separate cross-border will must be coordinated. Public charges and legal fees are separate. Current notary and professional-fee tariffs should be confirmed at the appointment; an old website figure is not a reliable current quote.

The cheapest-looking document can be costly if it is typed instead of handwritten, lacks the full date, is inaccessible after death or contradicts a home-country will. For a foreign owner with a spouse, children, parents, multiple properties or more than one will, a legal review before signing can identify those risks without promising a particular inheritance outcome.

For a Turkish will or cross-border property question connected with Fethiye, the inheritance lawyer service explains the available review and representation. The aim is a document and process that can be located, interpreted and used lawfully when the estate is opened.