This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Vasiyetname Nasıl Hazırlanır? Üç Geçerli Şekil.
A will can be made in three forms: before an official, in the testator's own hand, or orally (Article 531 of the Civil Code). The whole of a holograph will — including the date and the signature — must be in the testator's own handwriting; a text typed and then signed is invalid. And however clear a will is, it cannot override the reserved portions.
A will lets a person decide how their estate is to be divided after their death. But in Turkish law a will is subject to strict formal requirements, and a defect of form is a ground of annulment.
Who Can Make a Will?
Under Article 502, a person must have capacity of discernment and have completed the age of fifteen.
Capacity is assessed as at the moment the will was made. An illness developing afterwards does not invalidate a will properly made earlier.
Conversely, an action for annulment may be brought on the ground that capacity was lacking when the will was made; medical records and witness evidence are decisive in such cases.
The Three Forms
1. A holograph will (Article 538). The whole of the will must be written from beginning to end in the testator's own hand, showing the year, month and day on which it was made, and signed. A text typed and signed is invalid, as is one written by someone else.
2. A will made before an official (Articles 532 and following). Made before a notary, a judge of the civil court of peace or another official authorised by law, with two witnesses. The testator states their wishes to the official, who writes them down or has them written; the testator reads and signs, and the official dates and signs. The witnesses add and sign a statement that the declaration was made before the official and that they considered the testator capable of disposing.
3. An oral will (Article 539). Possible only in extraordinary circumstances — imminent danger of death, transport being cut off, illness, war — and only where the other forms cannot be used. The testator declares their last wishes to two witnesses, who put them in writing and deliver them to a judge, or report them orally. If the testator later becomes able to use one of the other forms, the oral will lapses after one month.
| Form | How it is made | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Before an official | Before a notary, judge or authorised official, with two witnesses | The safest route |
| Holograph | Entirely in the testator's hand, including date and signature | No witnesses needed; risky to store |
| Oral | Declared to two witnesses in extraordinary circumstances | Lapses one month after the obstacle ends |
To make a will a person must have capacity of discernment and have completed the age of fifteen (Article 502).
Who Cannot Be a Witness?
This is the commonest mistake in wills made before an official and in oral wills. The following cannot act as witnesses:
- those without legal capacity
- those barred from public service by a criminal court decision
- those who cannot read and write
- the testator's spouse, relatives by blood in the ascending and descending line, siblings, and the spouses of those persons
Nor may those in whose favour a disposition is made by the will, their spouses, ascendants, descendants, siblings or those persons' spouses act as witnesses or as the officiating official.
Breaching this rule leads to the annulment of the disposition concerned. Witnesses must therefore be chosen with care.
How Does the Reserved Portion Limit a Will?
A will is not unlimited. The law gives certain heirs a reserved portion, and the testator cannot dispose of it.
Under Article 506 the reserved portions are:
- for descendants, one half of the statutory share
- for each of the mother and father, one quarter of the statutory share
- for the surviving spouse, the whole of the statutory share where they inherit alongside descendants or the parents' line, and three quarters of it in other cases
Dispositions exceeding the reserved portion are not automatically void; the heir whose reserved portion has been encroached upon must bring an action for abatement.
That action is subject to a short period: an heir loses the right one year after learning that their reserved portion has been encroached upon, and in any event ten years after the will is opened (or, for other dispositions, after the succession opens).
The Commonest Mistakes
- Typing the will and signing it. A holograph will must be entirely handwritten.
- Leaving out the date. The year, month and day must be shown.
- Using close relatives as witnesses. A spouse, descendants, ascendants and siblings cannot act.
- Using a beneficiary as a witness. The disposition in their favour is annulled.
- Hiding it where nobody will find it. Depositing it with a notary is the safest course.
- Vague wording. Which asset goes to whom must be beyond doubt.
A will can always be revoked: by making a new one, by destroying it, or by a later disposition. A new will supplements the earlier one so far as it does not contradict it.
A holograph will must be written entirely by hand, show the year, month and day, and be signed. In a will made before an official, a spouse, descendants, ascendants, siblings and beneficiaries cannot be witnesses. The action for abatement must be brought within one year of learning of the encroachment.