Reserved Inheritance Shares and Reduction Actions in Türkiye

A person's freedom to make a will or gift is limited by the inheritance shares protected by law. The protected minimum is called the reserved share (saklı pay). A qualifying heir who has not received its value may seek reduction of dispositions exceeding the disposable portion.

A smaller-than-expected inheritance is not by itself proof of infringement. First identify the heirs, statutory shares, protected fractions, estate liabilities and benefits already received. The amount that can be recovered depends on the shortfall and the dispositions legally subject to reduction.

The fractions in Article 506 are calculated against the relevant heir's statutory share, not automatically against the whole estate.

Example: spouse and two children

Assuming these are the relevant heirs, the spouse's statutory share is 1/4 and each child's is 3/8. Their reserved shares are 1/4 for the spouse and 3/16 for each child. Together the reserved portion is 5/8, leaving a disposable portion of 3/8.

This illustrates the fractions only. It does not establish a monetary claim without calculating the estate and taking relevant benefits into account.

Testamentary dispositions, including wills and inheritance agreements, may be reduced to the extent required to restore reserved shares. Not every lifetime gift is automatically recoverable. Lifetime gratuitous benefits must fall within the statutory categories, particularly Article 565:

1. Specified advances on inheritance and benefits to descendants, including certain asset transfers, debt releases, unusual dowries and establishment capital described in the provision.
2. Benefits intended to settle inheritance rights before death.
3. Gifts for which the deceased retained a free right of revocation, and gifts made in the final year before death, apart from customary gifts.
4. Benefits clearly intended to render the reserved-share rules ineffective.

For the last category, merely exceeding the disposable fraction does not automatically prove the required purpose. The circumstances and evidence of the transaction must be assessed.

Where the deceased paid a purchase price but the asset was acquired from a third party in another person's name, the facts may need examination as a gratuitous benefit. The legal route must be distinguished from the specific doctrine of a disguised registered-property sale.

Articles 567–569 also address life-insurance surrender value at death, capitalised usufruct or annuity burdens, and an obligation to pass an inheritance to a substitute successor. The statutory conditions and valuation method differ.

A reliable calculation requires the entire relevant estate, not just the property the claimant knows about. Distinguish assets retained at death, earlier transfers, debts and benefits already received by the protected heir.

1. Identify all relevant assets and qualifying earlier benefits.
2. Determine the proper death-date values and deductible liabilities.
3. Calculate statutory and reserved shares for the actual family structure.
4. Compare the claimant's protected entitlement with the value already received.
5. Apply the statutory reduction order and each beneficiary's responsibility.

Indivisible property

Article 564 gives a beneficiary of an asset that cannot be divided without losing value an election: keep the asset by paying the reducible portion's value, or claim the money corresponding to the disposable portion. The provision also applies to lifetime benefits. Its monetary consequences use the relevant judgment-date value; do not confuse that with the death-date calculation of the estate and fixed reduction fraction.

The proportional rules in Articles 561 and 563 and any legally relevant expression of the deceased's wishes must also be considered. With multiple defendants, do not assume that each is automatically liable for the whole shortfall.

Under Article 566, a good-faith recipient is liable to return what remains from the benefit when succession passes. A recipient lacking good faith is subject to the rules governing restitution by a bad-faith possessor. A beneficiary under an inheritance agreement may also seek the proportionate return of consideration given to the deceased where the statute permits it.

Article 571 regulates extinguishing periods, which the court considers of its own motion. The action must be brought within one year of learning that the reserved share has been infringed and, in any event, within ten years of the opening of the will for wills, or the opening of succession for other dispositions.

These are not two freely selectable deadlines. The one-year knowledge period may expire long before the outer ten-year limit. Learning of a transfer is also not always identical to learning of an infringement; the actual circumstances and evidence matter. Reduction cannot ordinarily be pursued while the deceased is alive, and the period does not run before death.

Article 571 contains an additional rule: if the cancellation of one disposition brings a previous disposition into operation, the periods start when that cancellation judgment becomes final. It also allows reduction to be raised by way of defence at any time. Expiry of the period for an affirmative action must therefore not be described as eliminating every possible defence.

Complete amendment of proceedings

Record the death date, the opening and notification of the will, and when the shortfall became known. Obtain an assessment promptly; a general suggestion to act “within a year of death” is not a substitute for the statutory analysis.

A reduction claim normally concerns an effective disposition that exceeds the deceased's disposable portion. A muris muvazaası claim instead alleges, in its characteristic registered-property setting, that an apparent sale hides a gift intended to deprive heirs, raising validity and form issues.

The specific sham-transfer doctrine does not apply identically to every gift, unregistered asset or purchase funded by the deceased. Avoid treating all transfers to one child as the same legal category. Any estate representative's authority and each claimant's procedural standing must also be checked.

A protected heir ordinarily pursues the infringement of their own reserved share against the relevant beneficiaries. Article 562 permits the insolvency administration or specified creditors, after the statutory warning and under its conditions, to sue to the necessary extent within the heir's period.

Reduction actions are generally heard by the civil court of first instance. Civil Code Article 576 and HMK Article 11(1)(a) establish the deceased's last domicile as the relevant exclusive venue for the domestic succession dispute. Any foreign element requires a separate jurisdiction and applicable-law assessment.

The claimant must establish protected status and the infringement. For Article 565(4), the alleged purpose of defeating reserved shares needs evidence. Obtain title history, bank movements, contracts, wills and reliable valuations. Court fees and legal-fee consequences depend on the value and result; the claim is not a fixed-fee recovery of the entire estate.

Does disinheritance prevent reduction?

Articles 510–512 permit disinheritance by testamentary disposition on specified serious grounds, including serious offences against the deceased or a close person and serious breach of family-law duties. A person validly disinherited cannot claim a share or bring reduction.

But the word “disinherited” in a will is not conclusive. The reason must be stated. If challenged, those benefiting bear the burden of proving it. If the reason is absent or unproved, Article 512 provides that the disposition is implemented outside the heir's reserved share; the statute also addresses a clear mistake about the reason. The descendants' protected position under Article 511 must be considered separately.

1. Obtain the death date and a reliable record of the heirship structure.
2. Collect the will, opening/notification records, gift documents and title history.
3. Record when the infringement became known and retain evidence of that date.
4. Investigate the whole estate, liabilities, insurance and previous benefits.
5. Calculate the actual statutory and reserved shares with proper valuations.
6. Identify the legal basis: reduction, invalidity, a qualifying sham transfer or another claim.
7. Identify the correct beneficiaries and any procedural representation issue.
8. Act before the applicable period expires; consider suitable interim measures where assets may be transferred.

• Turkish Civil Code No. 4721: Articles 505–512, 560–571 and 576.
• Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100: Articles 2 and 11.
• Law No. 5650, adopted 4 May 2007: Articles 505–506 amended; effective on publication on 10 May 2007.
• General Assembly, E. 2019/178, K. 2022/738, 26 May 2022 — official judgment text.
• Official Court of Cassation judgment search.

The calculation, amendment and remedy must be assessed on the actual facts. A judgment about a particular complete amendment is not a blanket solution for an expired claim.