Reserved Shares in Turkish Inheritance Law: Civil Code Articles 505–506 for Foreign Heirs
1. Legal framework: Articles 505–506 of the Turkish Civil Code
Turkish inheritance law separates the estate into two conceptual parts when protected heirs exist: the reserved portion and the disposable portion. Article 505 of the Turkish Civil Code states that a deceased person who leaves descendants, parents or a spouse may make testamentary dispositions only over the portion remaining after the reserved shares are preserved. If none of those protected heirs exists, the deceased may dispose of the entire estate.
Article 506 then defines the size of the reserved shares. The statutory formula is not discretionary. The court does not create a protected percentage based on fairness. It applies the statutory heirship share and then calculates the protected fraction prescribed by Article 506. The relevant official text is available through the Ministry of Justice and the legislation database. See the official Turkish Civil Code text.
The practical consequence is important for international families. A will, gift, transfer to one child, transfer to a new spouse, or other gratuitous disposition may be valid in form yet still be subject to reduction if it infringes a protected heir’s reserved share. A reduction claim does not automatically invalidate every transfer. It restores the protected share to the extent required by law.
2. Who has a reserved share?
For deaths occurring under the current Turkish Civil Code regime, Article 506 protects descendants, parents and the surviving spouse. A descendant’s reserved share is one-half of that descendant’s statutory inheritance share. Each parent’s reserved share is one-quarter of that parent’s statutory inheritance share. The surviving spouse’s reserved fraction depends on the group with which the spouse inherits.
Brothers and sisters are not reserved-share heirs under the present rule. Older Turkish inheritance materials can therefore mislead if they refer to pre-2007 law. The death date controls which succession rules govern the estate. For deaths after the relevant 2007 amendment, siblings are not within the protected classes in Article 506.
The statutory inheritance share must be calculated before the reserved share. This two-stage method prevents a common error in cross-border estates: taking the protected percentage directly from the gross estate without first calculating the statutory share.
3. How the disposable portion is calculated
Article 507 provides the core calculation rule. The disposable portion is determined by reference to the estate as it exists on the date of death. The calculation is not limited to the apparent gross value of assets listed in a bank statement or title registry. Legally relevant debts and specific deductible items must be taken into account. The Code refers to debts of the deceased, funeral expenses, expenses relating to sealing and inventory of the estate, and certain subsistence expenses for persons who lived with and were supported by the deceased.
Article 508 is equally important because certain lifetime gratuitous transfers are added back to the estate for the purpose of calculating the disposable portion to the extent that they are subject to reduction. This does not mean that every gift ever made is automatically returned. It means that the court reconstructs the legally relevant estate base when a disposition falls within the statutory reduction regime.
Article 509 separately addresses life-insurance benefits designated for third parties. In the circumstances specified by the Code, the surrender value at death is added to the calculation base. This technical point can matter in high-value estates because life-insurance arrangements may otherwise appear to sit outside the estate.
4. Foreign heirs: Article 20 of Law No. 5718 comes first
A foreign heir should not begin by asking only, “What is my reserved share under Turkish law?” The correct first question is, “Which law governs the succession of this asset?” Article 20 of Law No. 5718 determines the law applicable to inheritance. The Ministry of Justice publishes the official text of Law No. 5718.
Under Article 20, succession is generally governed by the national law of the deceased, but Turkish law governs immovable property located in Turkey. The provision also contains special rules concerning the opening of succession, acquisition and distribution as they relate to immovable property in Turkey. This is why a foreign citizen who dies owning an apartment, land or commercial property in Turkey can create a split analysis: foreign law may govern parts of the estate while Turkish law directly governs Turkish immovables.
Our broader guide, Turkish Inheritance Law for Foreigners: MÖHUK Article 20, Property and Heirs, explains the conflicts-of-law stage in detail. The reserved-share calculation should be performed only after that stage is settled.
5. What happens when a will or gift exceeds the disposable portion?
The legal remedy is a reduction action (tenkis davası). Its purpose is not to punish the beneficiary and not necessarily to cancel the entire testamentary disposition. The court reduces testamentary or qualifying lifetime dispositions to the extent needed to restore the claimant’s reserved share.
The claimant must establish that he or she is a protected heir, identify the estate base, identify the challenged dispositions, and show the extent to which the protected share has been infringed. Valuation therefore becomes central. Real estate, company shares, bank balances, receivables and certain lifetime transfers may all require evidence. For foreign heirs, documents issued abroad may require apostille, consular legalization or certified translation before they can be relied upon in Turkey.
Where several dispositions are challenged, the order and method of reduction are governed by the Civil Code provisions on reduction. A beneficiary’s status, the legal nature and date of the transfer, and whether the transfer is testamentary or inter vivos can affect the sequence and remedy. The petition should identify each disposition rather than relying on a generic allegation that the estate was unfairly distributed.
6. Lifetime gifts, disguised transfers and estate reconstruction
International estates often involve transactions made years before death. A parent may transfer an apartment to one child, contribute funds to a company, forgive a debt, or register property in the name of another family member. Turkish law does not treat the label used by the family as conclusive. If a transaction is legally gratuitous and falls within the reduction rules, it can become relevant to the reserved-share calculation.
The evidence should be built transaction by transaction: title-deed records, bank transfers, sale contracts, payment receipts, company ledgers, tax records and communications may show whether an apparent sale was actually funded by the deceased without real consideration. A foreign heir who suspects a hidden transfer should first preserve objective evidence rather than relying exclusively on witness statements.
If rental income has also been collected by only one co-heir after death, that is a separate accounting issue from the reserved-share calculation. See our guide on inherited property rental income and accounting between heirs in Turkey.
7. Turkish real estate and foreign heirs
Immovable property in Turkey deserves separate treatment because Article 20 of Law No. 5718 places Turkish succession law at the center of the analysis for Turkish immovables. After heirship is established, title-deed registration must also be completed in the Turkish land registry system. The land registry does not distribute the estate by private family understanding alone; it requires legally accepted succession documents and supporting identity records.
For a foreign heir, a practical file commonly includes proof of death, civil-status documents, a certificate of inheritance or equivalent succession determination accepted in Turkey, sworn translations and identity/tax information. The exact document path depends on where the deceased and heirs are registered and whether a Turkish court or another competent authority must issue or recognize a succession document.
If the inherited property will later be sold, the heir should complete the succession registration before the sale process. Our title-deed transfer guide for foreigners explains the mechanics of a Turkish transfer once ownership and authority are established.
8. Procedure, evidence and limitation periods
A reserved-share claim is document-heavy. The claimant should identify the deceased’s death date, nationality, heirs, marital status, estate assets, liabilities, testamentary instruments and lifetime transfers. For Turkish immovables, historical title-deed records may be needed to trace ownership changes before death.
Turkish law sets time limits for reduction claims. A claimant should not wait for every family negotiation to fail before obtaining a deadline calculation. The start of the period can depend on when the heir learned of the infringement and on the legal nature of the disposition. Because a missed limitation or forfeiture period can end the claim, the deadline analysis should be performed as soon as the testamentary instrument and estate structure are known.
Foreign claimants may also face the security-for-costs rule in Article 48 of Law No. 5718. The Ministry of Justice explains that foreign natural and legal persons bringing proceedings or enforcement actions in Turkey can be required to provide security for costs and potential loss, subject to reciprocity-based exemptions. See the Ministry of Justice guidance on security for foreign litigants.
9. Estate-planning implications for international families
Reserved-share rules should be considered before a foreign owner signs a will or makes lifetime transfers involving Turkish assets. A will drafted exclusively under foreign-law assumptions may not achieve the intended result for Turkish immovable property. Likewise, transferring Turkish property during life is not automatically a way to eliminate future reserved-share exposure; qualifying gratuitous transfers can be brought into the reduction analysis.
The correct approach is asset-specific. List every Turkish asset, classify it as movable or immovable, determine the likely applicable law under Article 20, identify protected heirs under the applicable succession law, and then calculate the disposable portion. Only after those steps should the owner choose between a will, lifetime transfer, company structure, usufruct arrangement or other planning tool.
For international clients, documents should also be prepared with Turkish implementation in mind. A legally valid foreign document can still create delay if the Turkish authority cannot verify the signature, form, translation or authority of the signatory. Apostille and certified translation planning is therefore part of estate planning, not merely a post-death administrative issue.
- Determine the deceased’s nationality and the location/type of every asset.
- Apply Law No. 5718 Article 20 before calculating Turkish reserved shares.
- Calculate statutory inheritance shares first, then apply Article 506.
- Reconstruct the estate under Articles 507–509.
- Identify wills and lifetime transfers that may be reduced.
- Secure land-registry, bank and company records early.
- Check litigation deadlines immediately.
- Prepare apostille/legalization and Turkish translations for foreign records.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Do foreign heirs have reserved shares in Turkey?
They can. Nationality does not by itself remove reserved-share protection. The applicable succession law must first be determined under Law No. 5718 Article 20. Turkish law governs immovable property located in Turkey.
2. Can a foreign owner leave a Turkish apartment entirely to one child?
Not if Turkish succession law applies and the disposition infringes another protected heir’s reserved share. The affected heir may seek reduction to restore the protected portion.
3. Are siblings protected by reserved shares?
Not under the current Article 506 regime for deaths occurring after the 2007 amendment that removed siblings from the protected class.
4. What is the reserved share of a child?
Under Article 506, a descendant’s reserved share is one-half of that descendant’s statutory inheritance share.
5. Are parents always protected?
When a parent is a statutory heir in the specific succession, Article 506 protects one-quarter of that parent’s statutory inheritance share.
6. Can lifetime gifts be taken into account?
Yes. Article 508 adds qualifying gratuitous lifetime transfers to the calculation base to the extent they are subject to reduction.
7. Does a reduction action cancel the whole will?
No. The legal purpose is to reduce dispositions only to the extent necessary to restore the reserved share, unless the structure of the disposition requires another statutory consequence.
8. Does Turkish law govern a foreign deceased person’s property outside Turkey?
Not automatically. Article 20 generally points to the deceased’s national law for succession, while Turkish law specifically governs immovable property situated in Turkey.
9. Can I handle the case from abroad?
Yes. A properly prepared power of attorney can allow Turkish counsel to conduct the court, land-registry and related procedural steps, subject to the formal requirements applicable to the document.
10. Should I wait until all heirs agree before checking deadlines?
No. The deadline analysis should be completed immediately after the heir learns of the potentially infringing disposition. Family negotiations do not safely replace a statutory deadline calculation.
Author and legal review
Attorney Halil Bakırcı — Mersin Bar Association, Registration No. 3472. Bakırcı & Keskin Law Office advises international clients on Turkish inheritance, real-estate, litigation and cross-border private-law matters. Files throughout Turkey are managed from the Mersin office.
Last reviewed: 15 September 2026. This article relies on the current text of the Turkish Civil Code and Law No. 5718 and does not cite unverified case law.
Mersin office
For reserved-share calculations, Turkish property, wills, foreign documents and reduction claims, contact Bakırcı & Keskin Law Office for a document-based legal assessment.
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