This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Süre Rehberi: Hangi Talep Ne Kadar Sürede İleri Sürülür?.
Most rights lost in law are lost not on the merits but on time. This article collects the periods that come up most often in one place.
An important warning: this is a summary. Every period has its own starting point and its own exceptions, so take advice on your own case.
Limitation and Forfeiture Are Not the Same
The distinction comes first, because it decides the outcome.
Limitation does not extinguish the debt; it turns it into a natural obligation. The court cannot take it into account of its own motion unless the other side raises it as a plea. Limitation can be interrupted (by proceedings, enforcement, or acknowledgement of the debt) and can be suspended.
A forfeiture period extinguishes the right itself. The court takes it into account of its own motion, and it is neither interrupted nor suspended.
The practical consequence: forfeiture periods must be watched absolutely. Where the period is one of limitation, a claim can still succeed if the other side does not plead it.
A plea of limitation must also be raised in the defence; raising it later can run into the bar on extending the claim or the defence.
Employment
- Severance and notice pay: 5 years from termination
- Payment for unused annual leave: 5 years from termination
- Wages, overtime, weekly rest, national and public holiday pay: 5 years
- Reinstatement: application to a mediator within 1 month of service of the notice of termination; if no agreement is reached, proceedings within 2 weeks of the final record
- Termination for just cause: 6 working days from learning of the event, and in any event 1 year from it (Labour Act, Art. 26)
- Action to establish insured employment: 5 years from the end of the year in which the work was done (a forfeiture period; it does not apply where a document exists from which the institution could itself establish it)
- Workplace accident compensation: as a rule 10 years; where the act is an offence, the criminal limitation period
- Claiming unemployment benefit: 30 days from termination
Family and Succession
- Divorce for adultery: 6 months from learning of it, and in any event 5 years from the act
- Compensation on divorce (as separate proceedings): 1 year from the divorce judgment becoming final
- Participation claim (liquidation of the property regime): 10 years
- Denial of paternity: for the husband, 1 year from learning of it; for the child, 1 year from majority
- Paternity claim: for the mother, 1 year from the birth
- Annulment of an acknowledgement of paternity: 1 year from learning of it
- Renouncing an inheritance: 3 months
- Applying for an official inventory: 1 month from learning that the succession has opened
- Claim to abate dispositions: 1 year from learning that the reserved share was encroached on, and in any event 10 years
- Inheritance and transfer tax return: 4 months following the death
Obligations, Property and Consumer
- General limitation period: 10 years (Code of Obligations, Art. 146)
- Rent, wages and similar periodic payments: 5 years (Art. 147)
- Tort: 2 years from learning of the loss and the wrongdoer, and in any event 10 years from the act; where the act is an offence, the criminal limitation period
- Unjust enrichment: 2 years from learning of it, and in any event 10 years
- Defective goods (consumer): 2 years from delivery; 5 years for residential and holiday immovables; no limitation where the defect was fraudulently concealed
- Defective work (construction): 5 years from delivery; 20 years where the contractor was grossly at fault
- Right of withdrawal (distance contracts and consumer credit): 14 days
- Right of pre-emption: 3 months from notice through a notary, and in any event 2 years from the sale (a forfeiture period)
- Occupation charges for the past: 5 years back from the date of the claim
- Claim to fix the rent: proceedings or written notice at least 30 days before the new period begins
- Insurance claims: 2 years from when the claim falls due, and in any event 6 years from the event; on motor third-party insurance, 2 years / 10 years
Enforcement, Criminal and Administrative
Enforcement:
- Objection to a payment order in ordinary enforcement: 7 days
- Objection to a payment order in bill-of-exchange enforcement: 5 days
- Claim to set aside an objection: 1 year (a forfeiture period)
- Claim for restitution: 1 year from the payment
- Setting aside an auction: 7 days (from learning of it, and in any event 1 year)
- Objection to a valuation: 7 days
- Complaint that property is exempt from attachment: 7 days from learning of the attachment
- Claim to set aside a disposition: 5 years from the disposition (a forfeiture period)
Criminal:
- Complaint period: 6 months from learning of the act and the offender (Criminal Code, Art. 73)
- Reply to an offer of victim–offender mediation: 3 days (silence counts as refusal)
- Objection to a deferral of the pronouncement of judgment: 7 days
- Objection to a decision not to prosecute: 15 days
Administrative and appeals:
- Administrative proceedings (annulment and full remedy): 60 days; in the tax court, 30 days
- Deemed refusal of an application to the administration: 60 days
- Objection to an administrative fine (Misdemeanours Act): 15 days
- Appeal to the regional court of appeal: 2 weeks from service
- Appeal to the Court of Cassation: 2 weeks from service
- Objection to an expert report: 2 weeks
- Individual application to the Constitutional Court: 30 days
- Application to the European Court of Human Rights: 4 months
- Annulment of a resolution of the general meeting of flat owners: 1 month (and in any event 6 months)
- Objection to a deportation decision: 7 days
The periods here are given for general information. Each has its own starting point, its own rules on interruption and suspension, and its own exceptions — and the legislation changes. To avoid losing a right, take advice on your own case and put every date of service in the calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between limitation and a forfeiture period?
Limitation turns the debt into a natural obligation and must be raised as a plea; the court cannot apply it of its own motion. A forfeiture period extinguishes the right, is applied of the court's own motion, and is neither interrupted nor suspended.
How long do I have to claim employment entitlements?
Five years for severance, notice, payment for unused leave and wages, running from the date of termination.
What is the period for a claim in tort?
Two years from learning of the loss and the wrongdoer, and in any event ten years from the act. Where the act is an offence, the longer criminal limitation period applies.
How long do I have to object to a payment order?
Seven days in ordinary enforcement, five days in enforcement on bills of exchange.
What is the time limit for administrative proceedings?
Sixty days as a rule, thirty days in the tax court, and fifteen days for an administrative fine under the Misdemeanours Act.