7.01 IN GENERAL All systems of law that recognize private ownership of property also recognize that such ownership should pass at the death of the owner to others. The law of succession (miras hukuku) deals with the passage of a persons property rights at his death. This Former Dean of Koc University, Law School, Istanbul. The author would like to thank Prof. Dr. Baki Ilkay Engin for his invaluable comments and suggestions on this chapter during its revision. 149 7.02[A] Tugrul Ansay is expressed in the Turkish Constitution, that every person has the right to own and inherit property (Constitution (Cons.), Article 35 I). The details of the law of succession are regulated in the Civil Code (C.C.) (C.C. Articles 495-682. In force since 1 January 2002), which basically followed the provisions of the former C.C. of 1926. Those rules were basically taken from the Swiss Civil Code of 1907.

It is a generally accepted rule that, in the absence of an express provision made by a deceased person, his/her estate will, by operation of law, go to his close relatives upon his/her death. This is so because of the importance placed on the family and the duty of the members of the family to support each other. Persons are free, however, by will or otherwise, to dispose of their property to persons other than their relatives, within limits permitted by law. A particular indirect limitation placed on the power of disposition is the existence of death duties or inheritance taxes, which, even in western countries, where the concept of private ownership is most widely recognized, are relatively high.

Under Turkish law, which is based in this respect on Swiss law, persons are generally free to dispose of their property at their death, so that a particular part of their estate may go to certain real persons, who may not be their relatives or to legal persons, like foundations. Persons may execute wills, by which they leave their property to such real or legal persons as they choose. This so-called testate succession has some limits. Notwithstanding the provisions of a will, close relatives of the deceased are entitled to a certain portion of the estate, called the reserved portion. The deceased can only exceptionally disinherit his/her relatives with reserved portions. In the absence of such disposition, the estate of a deceased person will pass, in the proportions prescribed by law, to his relatives, or if there are none, to the state. This is called intestate succession. 7.02 INTESTATE SUCCESSION [A]

Parentals If the deceased (muris, mirasbrakan) has failed to make a will or otherwise provide for the distribution of his estate at his death, it will be distributed among his next of kin. For this purpose, the blood relatives of a deceased person are divided into groups, which are called parentals (zmre, kusak). The first parental consists of the descendants (altsoy) of the deceased, the second of his parents (stsoy), and their descendants, the third of his grandparents and their descendants. If none of the abovementioned successors exists, the state will inherit. 1 The rights of a surviving spouse and how they relate to parentals are discussed below.2 The following rules apply to the operation of the system of parentals: 1. The state, unlike the parentals, is never liable for the debts of the estate in excess of the amount of the estate. 2. See 7.02[B]. 150 Chapter 7: Law of Succession 7.02[B]