Divorce in Turkey

Marital life between two spouses may reach a dead end, where compatibility is difficult and impossible to continue, so there is no choice but to resolve the relationship between them, and as Turkish civil law organized the marital relationship and laid the foundations for its construction, it also organized laws to solve it, including a set of articles that regulate divorce procedures with the least possible harm. The law divides divorce in Turkey into two types.

Divorce in Turkey laws

First: Undisputed divorce: It is done by mutual agreement between the two parties by filling out the divorce application and determining its procedures together, and it can be obtained quickly and easily provided that their marriage has been more than a year in accordance with Article 3/166 of the Turkish Civil Code, and it is made after the judge personally confirms that The mutual desire of the two parties to divorce and their fair agreement regarding custody of children and the division of property, and the judge can amend some procedures to improve the conditions for the children.

The second: disputed divorce in Turkey : it begins with its procedures by one of the parties without the consent of the other, and is often the most harmful in the marital relationship and for those who wish to dissolve the marriage for the possible following reasons:

• The difference between the two parties and the incompatibility gap, and married life is no longer possible between them, such as if one of the parties threatens the other, expels him or her from the house or declares their hatred for one another, or borrowed unreasonable sums of money, and other big scandals and mutual insults, one of the parties has the right to initiate divorce procedures before the court that assesses the situation between the two parties later in accordance with Law No. 1/166
• In case of adultery committed by one of the parties, which gives the other party the right to file for divorce, provided that it is proven that the other party committed adultery, within 6 months of his/her knowledge of the act, in accordance with Article 161 of the Turkish Civil Code.
• Problems related to the intimacy between the two parties, in this case the other party can initiate the divorce procedures in Turkey.
• An attempt by one of the parties to kill the other party, harm them, or the lack of respect, or exposing them to psychological pressure or physical violence, so the victim has the right to initiate divorce procedures.

There are other reasons, such as abandonment between the two parties so that one of them lives away from the other for more than 6 months, or proving that one of the parties suffers from an irreversible mental illness, or if one of them is active on social networks and fails to take care of their family because of Internet correspondence, the other has the right to initiate divorce procedures according to The Supreme Court decision issued in 2015 in this regard.

If the plaintiff party is able to prove any of the previous reasons, then he/she has the right to go to the family court located in the area of their district in which they reside, and to initiate the divorce procedures. If the plaintiff forgives the other party, then they forfeit their rights.

And if all the procedures are completed, a copy of the court’s decision is sent to the civil registry office, and after the marriage is officially dissolved, both parties are entitled to marry a second time, taking into account whether the woman is pregnant in that case she is not to marry for a period of 300 days from the date of the court’s decision in accordance with Article 132/1, and after the dissolution of marriage, a woman is not permitted to use her husband’s family name unless it is proved that using her husband’s family name gives her some benefits and does not cause any harm to her ex-husband, according to Article 173 of the Law.

It should be noted that the divorce may cause moral or material damage to one of the parties without the other, in that case the affected party is entitled to obtain compensation if he/she proves this, and the court decides the appropriate compensation for them according to the material and social condition of the other party, but if the two parties suffer the same amount of damage then there is no need for any compensation to either party.

After the divorce, there are three matters that must be settled between the two parties, either by agreement between them or by the court according to the law, which are: alimony, child custody, and the financial issues. Perhaps the most important and controversial consequence of divorce is child custody, so to whom will custody be transferred? What about a foreign mother?

According to Turkish civil law, the child needs custody unless he/she is over the age of 18 years, and it is natural for it to be joint if the parents are married, and if the divorce takes place, the Turkish Republic’s courts decide in this regard, which always strive to achieve the child’s welfare and secure his/her life. The child’s age must be taken into account, psychological, physical and emotional state and all their needs, and the social and economic status of each party and their lifestyle, not to mention their educational and professional activity, and it is necessary to take into account the child’s opinion if he/she is able to express their ideas.

The court often looks at the young age of the child, so he/she lives with the mother unless there is a danger to them, and the mother’s religion or nationality does not affect the court’s decision, and the child’s mother can grant custody to the father voluntarily, and in that case she will not be able to recover custody again.

Types of alimony

As for “alimony”, it comes in four types:

– Alimony for the husband / wife: If the party with less guilt does not have sufficient material income or needs material support, then he/she has the right to spend on the other party according to Article 175, and the amount of alimony depends on the financial situation of the guilty party, and this alimony is cancelled if the less guilty party marries a second time, or his/her financial condition has improved, or he/she lives an immoral life, and in the event that he/she passed away.

– Child support: According to the court order, custody of the children is assigned to one of the parties, while the other party – often the father – is obligated to pay the child’s alimony, which may increase as the child grows and his/her needs increase, as the court deems appropriate.

– Temporary alimony: the plaintiff party may not be able to meet his/her needs or the needs of the children during the course of the divorce procedures, which requires temporary support for him/her until the end of the divorce procedures, so this alimony starts from the date of filing the lawsuit related to the divorce until the completion of all divorce procedures.

– Support alimony: it is resorted to in the event that the person is unable to secure his/her basic needs, then he/she is entitled to obtain support from the children or grandchildren or parents or grandparents provided that the applicant proves his/her poverty and proves the stability of the financial situation of the relatives who will support him/her, This kind of alimony is very rare.

How is the property divided if the divorce takes place between the spouses?

The two parties have the right to choose any system by which they can divide properties between them according to their prenuptial agreement. In most cases there are not prenuptial agreements which means that they will go to court if the divorce takes place to divide the property between them according to the Law.

According to Article 202, Property Relationships of the Law “Participation on the Basis of Commonly Acquired Property”, this system divides the assets of the two parties into two parts, the first: the acquired assets such as wages and employment income or professional activity of the two parties, and the income resulting from intellectual property rights and also includes special payments and shares resulting from private property, inheritance property or gifts and compensation payments of any kind, and the second: personal assets such as what one of the parties owned before marriage.

According to the Law, the two parties have equal rights in all the properties that they acquired together, and the financial system is liquidated and dissolved in cases of divorce, the death of one of the parties, or if one of them wants to change the marital system. Accordingly, each party must prove that each property belongs to the categories of personal assets, otherwise It is considered joint between the two parties, and it is also necessary to start the process of liquidating the financial system between the spouses as soon as they enter into the divorce procedures in anticipation that one of the parties hides his/her assets or sells them, and in this case the court can submit a request to disclose the disappeared assets, and the court can acquire the assets of this party so that he/she does not have a chance to sell them until the procedures for liquidating the financial system are completed.

It should be noted that if the cause of divorce is proven to be adultery or attempted murder, then the court may grant all rights to the aggrieved party.

As for the second case of the end of the financial system between the spouses, death, if one of the parties dies, the property is divided according to the following cases:

If both spouses have children, they have 3/4 of the assets, and the other spouse has a quarter.

If the two parties do not have any children and the parents of the deceased party are alive, then they have half and the other half, and the siblings in this case do not have any inheritance rights.

If the two parties do not have children, have siblings, and the parents are dead, the other party will receive 3/4 and the siblings will receive a quarter.

If the two parties do not have children and the other party does not have any relatives, then all the assets go to the other party.

We strive to cover all items related to divorce in Turkey through this article. Nonetheless each case is different and has different variables.

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