Practice areas · Turkish civil law

Life in Turkey doesn't pause when you leave.

Inheritances open, property changes hands, marriages end, judgments need enforcing — and all of it runs on Turkish law, in Turkish courts, on Turkish timelines. For clients in the United States, I handle these matters through power of attorney, so resolving them doesn't require a flight.

This page explains the law in general terms. It is legal information, not legal advice about your case.

Inheritance & Estates

When a relative passes away in Turkey, heirs abroad face a system that does not wait for them: certificates of inheritance, estate division, tax declarations, and deadlines that run whether or not you are there. Foreign documents — death certificates, powers of attorney — must be prepared and apostilled correctly, or the process stalls at the first counter.

Engage counsel early: some inheritance elections under Turkish law carry deadlines measured in months from the date of death.

Property & Real Estate

Buying, selling, or managing Turkish real estate from abroad is routine when the documents are right and hazardous when they are not. Title checks, encumbrance searches, and properly scoped powers of attorney protect you from the two classic disasters: buying property with hidden liens, and granting a power of attorney broader than the transaction it was meant for.

Never sign a Turkish power of attorney whose scope you have not had explained in a language you fully understand.

Family Matters & Recognition of Foreign Judgments

A divorce decreed by a U.S. court does not automatically exist in Turkish records. Until a Turkish court recognizes it (tanıma/tenfiz), you remain married in Turkey — with everything that implies for inheritance, remarriage, and property. Recognition proceedings are procedural but exacting, and they are the single most common Turkish-law need I see among clients in the United States.

If you divorced abroad and have any tie to Turkey — property, heirs, a future remarriage — have the judgment recognized before it becomes urgent.

Handled in Turkey. Managed from America.

One consultation covers the Turkish file and its American implications together — which is usually where the real answer lives.

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1 hour · $120 · English or Turkish · virtual