Foreign investors
Foreign Owners and Turkish Inheritance Law
Which country's law governs property in Türkiye, whether your will is valid, what your heirs must do, and how much inheritance tax comes to.
Inheritance is the subject foreign buyers ask about least and that causes the most trouble. The reason is understandable: nobody wants to think about it while buying a home. Yet the rule can be summarised in one sentence, and that sentence surprises most people.
Immovable property situated in Türkiye is governed by TURKISH LAW, whatever the owner's nationality. The succession regime of your own country does not apply to your Turkish home.
What does that mean?
The Turkish Civil Code operates a system of reserved shares: descendants, the spouse and, in certain cases, parents are entitled to a portion of the estate fixed by law. You cannot remove that portion by will. Even if your own country allows you to leave your property to whomever you please, that freedom is limited for immovable property in Türkiye.
In practice this means that if you want to leave the Turkish flat to your spouse alone and you have children, the children's reserved share applies. There are legitimate ways around it — a lifetime transfer, or a contract of maintenance until death — but each should be planned with a lawyer.
What must the heirs do?
- 01Obtain a certificate of inheritanceFrom a Turkish court or a notary. For foreign heirs, documents issued abroad must be apostilled and translated.
- 02File the inheritance and transfer tax returnFiled with the tax office within a set period from the date of death. Where the death occurred abroad, the period is longer.
- 03Pay the tax or arrange instalmentsInheritance and transfer tax is calculated on a graduated scale and may be paid over three years, in two instalments a year.
- 04Register the transfer at the land registryWith the clearance letter from the tax office, an application is made to the Land Registry Office and the property is registered in the heirs' names.
The tax side
Inheritance and transfer tax is calculated on a graduated scale according to the value of the estate, with exempt amounts for close relatives. For real property the base is the value used for property tax; because that figure sits below market value, the tax burden usually comes out lower than people expect.
Against that, the property cannot be sold, let or otherwise dealt with until the transfer is complete. If the process drags on for years the property lies idle — while the service charge and property tax keep running.
The questions we hear most
- Is the will I made in my own country valid in Türkiye?
- Its formal validity may be recognised, but its content is limited by the Turkish rules on reserved shares. Making a separate will for the Turkish property makes matters markedly easier for your heirs.
- Do my heirs have to travel to Türkiye?
- No. The whole process can be handled by a lawyer in Türkiye under an apostilled power of attorney.
- Does holding the property through a company solve the problem?
- It shifts the problem from the property to the shares, which are then inherited instead. In some structures it makes planning easier, but it has other consequences for citizenship and tax. It is not a solution on its own.
- What happens if there are no heirs?
- Where there is no statutory heir, the estate passes to the Treasury. That prospect is one of the most concrete reasons to make a will.
Where you can verify this
The information on this page is for general guidance and does not constitute legal or financial advice. The legislation may change; consult your accountant or lawyer before acting.