Increasing Maintenance in Türkiye: Conditions and Procedure

A maintenance amount fixed at divorce may become insufficient as purchasing power falls, a child grows older, education costs change or the parties' income changes. An increase requires an assessment of the legal basis and the current circumstances; it is not simply a request to repeat the original divorce proceedings.

There is no fixed statutory waiting period requiring, for example, one full year before every increase claim. Nevertheless, the claimant must establish circumstances justifying the relief sought. Temporary maintenance during pending divorce proceedings and a first application for maintenance raise separate procedural questions.

The starting point is an existing entitlement to periodic spousal maintenance. Finality of the divorce and the operative maintenance provisions must be checked; an increase claim is not a substitute for establishing an entitlement that has not arisen.

• Changed needs: Increased housing, healthcare and necessary living expenses may be relevant.
• Financial resources: The recipient's actual resources and the payer's current income, assets and ability to pay are assessed.
• Purchasing power: Inflation may undermine the balance achieved by the previous award.
• Equity: Article 4 requires a lawful and equitable assessment within judicial discretion.

This does not mean employment or other income is irrelevant. Regularity, amount, necessary expenses and the entire economic position matter. Equally, the payer's remarriage or additional children may affect overall resources but do not automatically cancel the earlier obligation.

Reduction or termination has its own conditions. A party should not unilaterally stop an enforceable payment merely because they believe circumstances justify a different result.

Relevant circumstances include the child's age, school level, education and course fees, health, accommodation and transport costs. The custodial parent's care work and expenditure should be considered alongside their income. The other parent's current means must be established from reliable information.

An increase is not determined solely by an index or a fixed percentage of salary. It seeks a fair balance between the child's actual needs and the parents' resources. A low income is relevant, but does not make the child's needs disappear. A parent's new family obligations must be assessed together with the existing duty.

The child's reaching adulthood can change the legal basis for support. Continuing education and adult-child support should not be assumed to be identical to an increase in the earlier child-maintenance order.

The family court ordinarily hears maintenance-adjustment proceedings under Law No. 4787. Where no family court has been established, the designated civil court of first instance hears the matter in that capacity.

Article 177 provides a venue at the maintenance recipient's domicile for post-divorce maintenance actions. This is a special venue for the recipient's benefit, rather than an exclusive rule eliminating the general venue at the defendant's domicile. The appropriate rule for the actual claim, including the child's position and any foreign element, must be checked.

Prepare the following

• The divorce judgment, finality endorsement and any later maintenance decision.
• The approved protocol and the exact wording of annual increase clauses.
• Current income information: payslips, employment and social-security records, and relevant assets.
• Documented rent, bills, education, healthcare and other necessary expenses.
• School records and information about the child's age and needs.
• A comparison between the previous assessment and the present circumstances, including relevant official economic data.

The court may obtain records and investigate the parties' economic position, but the parties should provide concrete information and supporting documents. Specify the requested monthly amount and any future-year adjustment request clearly.

An increase ordinarily operates from the date the action is filed. This is different from collecting previously unpaid instalments or applying an already-existing annual adjustment clause. Earlier loss of purchasing power does not automatically create a retrospective increase for every past month.

There is no single statutory increase percentage for every maintenance case. The type of maintenance, the existing judgment, the elapsed period, changes in need and resources, and equity must be examined together.

The historical index approach should not be presented as an unconditional minimum or maximum applicable to every file today. In particular, child maintenance centres on the child's needs and the parents' means. A rent-increase cap or an unrelated statutory percentage is not automatically a maintenance rule.

Use the correct comparison dates and official index series where relevant. Neither mechanically indexing an outdated amount nor selecting an arbitrary large increase replaces a proper assessment.

An annual adjustment clause can reduce the need for repeated proceedings. First calculate the amount already payable under the existing judgment or approved agreement. Failure to pay that amount concerns enforcement; it is not necessarily a new request to alter the obligation.

A valid approved clause remains relevant until properly changed. A later increase claim must explain why the existing mechanism is inadequate; the clause should not simply be disregarded.

Articles 176(5), 182(4) and 330 provide for future-year arrangements on request. Ask expressly for the appropriate adjustment mechanism if that relief is sought. Its reference period and commencement depend on the order's wording and the court's determination; they should not be assumed from a generic example.

The Constitutional Court's decision of 4 June 2026, E. 2025/156, K. 2026/131, annulled the expression “for an indefinite period” in Article 175(1). It was published in the Official Gazette of 30 September 2026, No. 33386. The annulment takes effect nine months after publication, on 30 June 2027.

• Spousal maintenance has not been abolished. The decision concerns the specified expression.
• Child maintenance is distinct. The annulment does not remove the child's maintenance rights.
• Existing orders do not automatically disappear. The ruling should not be described as permission to stop payments.
• As at October 2026: The delayed effective date and any subsequent legislation must be distinguished. The impact on a later pending dispute must be assessed in light of the rules then applicable.

No new fixed maintenance duration or automatic increase formula should be invented from this judgment. If legislation changes, its effective date and transitional provisions need separate examination.

1. Identify the maintenance type and the existing enforceable entitlement.
2. Check finality and any later maintenance judgments.
3. Calculate the amount already due under an existing annual increase clause.
4. Document current needs, income, assets and the changes since the previous assessment.
5. For a child, include education, health, age-related expenses and both parents' contributions.
6. State the requested amount and any future-year adjustment clearly.
7. Distinguish an increase action from collecting unpaid instalments.
8. If you are the payer, document your actual resources and obligations; avoid unilaterally altering the order.

These decisions explain their own factual and procedural settings. Older index-based holdings do not dispense with current evidence, and a dissent or a procedural ruling must not be substituted for a substantive rule.

• Turkish Civil Code No. 4721: Articles 4, 175–177, 182, 330 and 331.
• Family Courts Act No. 4787: Articles 2 and 4.
• Constitutional Court, E. 2025/156, K. 2026/131, 4 June 2026.
• Official Court of Cassation judgment search.
• Turkish Statistical Institute: official economic indicators where relevant to the assessment.

Article 182's paragraph numbering changed after the additional second paragraph introduced in 2021. Older citations to paragraphs 2 and 3 may correspond to paragraphs 3 and 4 of the current structure; compare the actual text.