Inheritance Procedures in Turkey for Overseas Heirs

If someone has passed away leaving assets in Turkey — a property, a bank account, shares in a company — their heirs, wherever they live, generally need to formally establish their inheritance rights before those assets can be transferred, sold, or otherwise dealt with in Turkey.

Certificate of Inheritance

The starting point is usually a certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi / veraset ilamı), which formally identifies the heirs and their respective shares. For heirs who are not Turkish citizens, this is generally obtained through a Turkish court rather than a notary. The court examines the relevant civil status records and any foreign documents establishing the family relationship (such as a foreign death certificate or civil status records), which typically need to be legalized and, where not in Turkish, officially translated.

Which Law Applies

Turkish private international law generally distinguishes between:

• Movable assets (such as bank accounts or company shares), which are typically governed by the law of the deceased's nationality.
• Immovable assets located in Turkey (such as real estate), which are generally governed by Turkish law, regardless of the deceased's nationality.

In practice, this means a property in Turkey is usually distributed according to Turkish inheritance rules even where the deceased was a foreign national, while other assets may follow a different framework. This distinction affects what documents and steps are needed, so it is worth clarifying early in the process.

Steps That Typically Follow

Once the certificate of inheritance is obtained, the process for heirs abroad generally continues with:

• Registering the inheritance with the relevant registry (for real estate, the land registry) to reflect the heirs' shares
• Filing an inheritance tax declaration in Turkey, since the transfer of inherited assets located in Turkey is generally subject to Turkish inheritance tax rules
• Selling, transferring, or otherwise managing the asset, if that is the heirs' intention, which can generally be handled by a lawyer under a power of attorney

If There Is a Dispute Among Heirs

Where heirs disagree — for example, over how a jointly inherited property should be divided or sold — Turkish law provides for a partition process, which can be resolved by agreement among the heirs or, failing that, through the courts. Heirs living abroad can be represented throughout by a lawyer holding a power of attorney.

Starting the Process from Abroad

As with other matters described on this site, you do not need to travel to Turkey to begin. A lawyer can request the certificate of inheritance, register your share, and handle any related procedure on your behalf once you have granted a power of attorney — the main documents generally needed from your side are proof of the family relationship to the deceased and, where relevant, an apostilled death certificate.