İstanbul BarosuBar Registration No. 74199
Practice Areas
As an English-speaking divorce lawyer based in Istanbul and acting in Ankara and across Turkey, our office represents Turkish and foreign-national clients in contested and uncontested divorce, custody, and property proceedings. Family law disputes carry a personal and emotional weight alongside their legal dimension. Structuring the process correctly from the outset therefore protects both the client's rights and their time.
Uncontested and contested divorce proceedings differ substantially. In an uncontested divorce, the protocol prepared by the parties must cover custody, alimony, and division of property in full; an incomplete protocol can give rise to fresh proceedings later.
A divorce lawyer's work extends well beyond a single court hearing: evaluating the case and the evidence available, drafting the petition or protocol, tracking the strict procedural deadlines that run throughout a Turkish family court case, and coordinating the ancillary matters — custody, alimony, and division of property — that are usually decided alongside the divorce itself rather than left for later.
Turkish law recognises two categories of ground for a contested divorce. The specific grounds — adultery, an attempt on the other spouse's life or gross ill-treatment, an offence or dishonourable life, desertion, and mental illness — each carry their own conditions and, in some cases, their own limitation period. Where none of the specific grounds fits, the general ground of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage is available, provided the petitioning spouse proves the marriage has broken down to a degree that shared life can no longer reasonably be expected of either spouse. A divorce lawyer in Turkey will normally assess, before any petition is filed, which of these grounds the facts actually support.
Where the marriage has lasted at least one year and the spouses agree on the financial consequences of the divorce and the position of any children, an uncontested divorce may proceed (Art. 166/3 Civil Code). The protocol prepared by the parties must cover custody, alimony, damages, and division of property in full; the judge hears both spouses in person at the hearing and approves the protocol if satisfied. This is the route a divorce lawyer in Istanbul will usually recommend exploring first, since it is faster and less costly than a contested case.
An uncontested divorce is available only once the marriage has lasted at least one year. Either the spouses apply jointly, or one spouse accepts the action brought by the other; the judge must also be satisfied, from hearing both spouses in person, that they have freely agreed on the financial consequences of the divorce and the position of any children (Art. 166/3 Civil Code).
The protocol prepared by the parties must set out custody, contact with the child, alimony, damages, and division of property in clear, workable terms, covering all of them in full. If the judge finds a provision missing or contrary to the child's interests, an amendment may be proposed; if the parties do not accept it, the action does not conclude as an uncontested divorce.
Where the parties are in full agreement, the process is generally concluded at a single hearing, the date of which depends on the court's caseload. Drafting the reasoned judgment and having it become final takes a further few weeks.
Where one spouse does not wish to divorce, or the spouses cannot agree on the consequences, a contested divorce action is brought. The action must rest on one of the statutory grounds — adultery, attempt on life, gross ill-treatment, desertion, mental illness, or the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage (Articles 161-166 Civil Code) — and the parties must prove their allegations with evidence such as witnesses, correspondence, or records. Preparing this evidence correctly, before it is filed with the court, is one of the main reasons clients retain a divorce lawyer in Turkey rather than filing the contested case themselves.
Alongside specific grounds — adultery, attempt on life or gross ill-treatment, committing an offence or leading a dishonourable life, desertion, and mental illness — the law also provides a general ground, the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, for situations not covered by the specific grounds (Articles 161-166 Civil Code). Which ground to rely on must be decided from the facts before the action is filed.
The party making the allegation must prove the ground relied on with evidence such as witness testimony, correspondence, photographs, or bank records. Evidence obtained unlawfully — a recording made without consent, for example — may be disregarded by the court, so the process of gathering evidence also calls for legal advice.
The duration depends on the number of matters in dispute, whether witness or expert examination is required, and the court's caseload; it lengthens further if the case proceeds to an appeal. It would not be sound to give a definite period at the outset — a realistic range can be shared once the file has been reviewed.
A divorce in Turkey does not require both spouses to agree. Where one spouse refuses, the other may still proceed by filing a contested divorce action on one of the statutory grounds described above; the court will grant the divorce once that ground is proven, regardless of the other spouse's wishes, and will also rule on custody, alimony, and property at the same time.
A dismissed divorce action is not the end of the road. Since the amendment made by Law No. 7532 in November 2024, where a divorce action brought on any ground has been dismissed and one year has passed since that dismissal became final without the shared life being restored, the marriage is deemed irretrievably broken down and the court grants a divorce at the request of either spouse (Art. 166/4 Civil Code). The waiting period was previously three years.
Fault-based grounds also carry their own deadlines. A divorce for adultery, or for an attempt on life, gross ill-treatment or seriously degrading conduct, must be filed within six months of learning of the ground and in any event within five years of it (Arts. 161 and 162); a spouse who has forgiven the conduct loses the right to sue on it. Desertion requires a separation of at least six months, a formal warning issued by a judge or notary no earlier than the end of the fourth month, and a further two months before the action can be filed (Art. 164).
Lawyers' fees in Turkey are not left entirely to individual negotiation: the Union of Turkish Bar Associations prepares an annual minimum fee tariff (Avukatlık Asgari Ücret Tarifesi, AAÜT), and no fee below the tariff may be agreed (Arts. 164 and 168 Attorneyship Law). Our office's fees are set with this tariff as the floor, and the applicable amount depends on whether the matter is an uncontested or a contested divorce and on the number of ancillary claims (custody, alimony, property, damages) involved — a range that can only be given once the specific case has been reviewed, not before.
Turkish law does not require a party to be represented by a lawyer in a divorce case, and a person may in principle represent themselves. In practice, however, Turkish civil procedure applies strict deadlines and formal requirements — particularly around the content of an uncontested divorce protocol and the evidence needed in a contested case — that make self-representation genuinely risky, and this risk is higher still for a foreign national navigating the process in a second language.
The custody decision is based on the best interests of the child, taking into account age, education, familiar environment, and, where the child is of sufficient understanding, their own views. Regular contact is arranged for the parent not granted custody, and custody may be varied later if circumstances change. A divorce lawyer in Turkey representing a foreign parent will typically also address how custody interacts with that parent's own residence status, since the two are often connected in practice.
The court weighs the child's age, health, familiar environment and school, whether they would be separated from siblings, and each parent's capacity to devote time and care to the child. Where the child is of sufficient understanding, their own view is also taken, though it is not decisive on its own.
A regular contact schedule is set for the parent not granted custody, covering weekdays or weekends, official and religious holidays, and the summer break; the specific schedule varies with the child's age and the distance between the parents. Where contact is obstructed, its enforcement may be sought through execution proceedings or a fresh action.
A variation of custody may be sought where the parent holding custody fails to properly fulfil that role, where their health deteriorates, or where the child's best interests would now be better served otherwise. This is the subject of a separate action and requires proof that circumstances have genuinely changed since the earlier decision.
There is no fixed rule in favour of the mother or the father; the court decides on the basis of the child's best interests, hears a child of sufficient understanding, and may order social-worker or pedagogue reports on each parent's circumstances. In suitable cases Turkish courts also accept joint custody, typically where both parents agree and can cooperate on the child's upbringing.
For international families, the most urgent concern is often the risk that one parent will take the child abroad without the other's consent. The family court may, as a precautionary measure, order that the child may not be taken out of Turkey. Where a child has already been removed to another country, the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, to which Turkey is a party, may apply — and in these cases acting quickly is decisive.
Turkish law provides for several distinct types of alimony, each with its own purpose and its own conditions, rather than a single support payment. Interim alimony covers the spouse and children while the case is pending; child support is paid by the parent not granted custody until the child reaches majority, and generally continues for a child in higher education; poverty alimony protects a spouse who, without being at greater fault, would otherwise fall into poverty as a result of the divorce, and may in principle continue indefinitely, subject to being lifted if the recipient's circumstances change or they remarry. Calculating a realistic alimony figure is one of the more technical tasks a divorce lawyer in Turkey handles, since it depends on both spouses' documented income and standard of living, not a fixed formula.
Where domestic violence is a factor, Law No. 6284 on the Protection of the Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women allows a family court to issue protective and preventive measures — removing the abuser from the shared home, barring them from approaching the protected person, their residence, school, or workplace, and arranging confidential-address protection — often within hours of an application, with an initial order typically lasting up to six months. These protections apply to foreign spouses on the same basis as Turkish citizens, and are available whether or not a divorce case has already been filed; an attempt on life, gross ill-treatment or seriously degrading conduct, including domestic violence, is also a specific ground for a fault-based divorce under Article 162 of the Civil Code (to be filed within six months of learning of it, and in any case within five years), and criminal prosecution of the abuser may proceed alongside the family court case.
A foreign spouse who holds a family residence permit based on the marriage needs to plan for its effect on their status before, not after, the divorce is finalised. On divorce, a foreign national who was married to a Turkish citizen may be granted a short-term residence permit provided they have stayed in Turkey on a family residence permit for at least three years (Art. 34/6 Law No. 6458). Where they have not, the basis of the family permit falls away with the divorce, and another permit type has to be applied for in time. Where a court decision establishes that the foreign spouse was a victim of domestic violence, the three-year condition is not applied, so that a spouse leaving an abusive marriage is not forced to choose between their safety and their immigration status.
Under the statutory regime of participation in acquired property, spouses are as a rule entitled to a one-half participation claim over property acquired during the marriage; property received by inheritance or gift falls outside this scope. Liquidation is sought in a separate action once the divorce judgment has become final. A divorce lawyer in Istanbul will usually advise filing this property claim as soon as the divorce judgment is final, since the claim is subject to its own limitation period.
Turkish law gives the family home special protection. Neither spouse may terminate the lease of the family home, transfer it, or limit the rights over it without the other spouse's express consent (Art. 194 Civil Code). A spouse who does not own the home may ask the land registry to enter a family-home annotation (aile konutu şerhi) on the title, which puts buyers and banks on notice.
Where the home is rented in one spouse's name, the other spouse can become a party to the lease by notifying the landlord. During the divorce itself, the court may also order interim measures on the use of the home as part of the provisional arrangements it makes while the case is pending (Art. 169).
Under long-settled Turkish practice, gold coins and jewelry given to the bride at the wedding — ziynet eşyası — are treated as her personal property, regardless of who is later found holding them or whether they were used for household expenses during the marriage. On divorce, the wife may bring a separate claim for their return or their value where they cannot be returned in kind; the husband's assertion that they were spent on shared household needs does not, by itself, defeat the claim unless he proves the wife consented to that use as a gift rather than a loan. This claim is legally distinct from the division of the matrimonial property regime and from alimony, and is commonly pursued alongside them.
Yes. Turkish courts regularly hear divorce cases where one or both spouses are foreign nationals, and being a foreign national is not by itself a barrier to filing for divorce in Turkey. What differs from a divorce between two Turkish citizens is which country's law governs the case and which court has jurisdiction, both explained below. A step-by-step guide is in our article Divorce in Turkey for Foreigners.
Turkish courts regularly hear divorce cases involving a foreign spouse, and a foreign nationality does not by itself bar access to the Turkish courts. Two separate questions arise in every such case: which country's courts have jurisdiction, and which country's law governs the divorce and its consequences.
Article 14 of Law No. 5718 (MÖHUK) sets out a three-tier rule for divorce actions with an international element: the spouses' common national law applies first; where the spouses hold different nationalities, the law of their common habitual residence applies; and where neither exists, Turkish law applies. In practice, most divorces heard in Turkey — including those involving one Turkish and one foreign spouse living in Turkey — are decided under Turkish substantive law, since the couple's common habitual residence is Turkey.
The position is different where both spouses share the same foreign nationality — two British, two German or two Syrian citizens, for example. The court must then research and apply their common national law of its own motion, and may ask the parties for help in establishing its content (Art. 2/1); Turkish law applies only if that law cannot be established despite all enquiries (Art. 2/2) or is manifestly contrary to Turkish public policy (Art. 5). In family-law matters, if the foreign law's own conflict rules refer the case on to another law, that referral is taken into account (Art. 2/3). The Court of Cassation's 2nd Civil Chamber set aside a judgment on exactly this ground on 6 May 2026 (E.2025/10230, K.2026/5215), where Turkish law had been applied to two spouses of the same foreign nationality without any enquiry into their national law. Alimony between divorced spouses and custody follow the same law, while interim measures during the case are always governed by Turkish law (Art. 14/2-4).
Turkish courts may hear the case where a connecting factor exists — for example, one spouse holds Turkish citizenship, either spouse is habitually resident in Turkey, or the marriage was concluded in Turkey. A foreign spouse who has been living in Turkey is generally able to bring a divorce action before the Turkish family court of their place of residence.
Yes, provided a Turkish court has jurisdiction under the connecting factors described above — for example, because you or your spouse are habitually resident in Turkey. Turkish courts do not require the marriage itself to have been registered or celebrated in Turkey; a marriage validly entered into abroad and later registered with the Turkish civil registry, or simply proven by the foreign marriage certificate, can be dissolved by a Turkish court.
A divorce granted abroad is not automatically valid in Turkey. It must go through a recognition procedure (tanıma) before a Turkish court, or, where the statutory conditions are met, be registered administratively through the civil registry office. Supporting documents issued abroad — the foreign decree, birth and marriage records — generally need an apostille (or, for non-Hague Convention countries, consular legalisation) and a certified Turkish translation before they can be used in the Turkish proceeding. The procedure is explained in Recognition of a Foreign Divorce in Turkey.
Recognition does not require reciprocity between the two countries, and the Turkish court does not re-examine whether the foreign court applied its law correctly: it checks that the judgment is final, that the other spouse was duly summoned, and that the result is not manifestly contrary to public policy (Arts. 54 and 58 of Law No. 5718). The Court of Cassation confirmed on 25 November 2025 (2nd Civil Chamber, E.2025/6336, K.2025/10236) that a foreign judgment resting on a different legal system, including religious family law, is not for that reason alone contrary to public policy. By contrast, a document merely recording a husband's unilateral repudiation, with no court proceedings in which the wife took part, was refused recognition on 20 January 2021 (E.2020/6076, K.2021/411).
A contested divorce can proceed in Turkey even if the other spouse has left the country, provided a Turkish court has jurisdiction. The petition and later documents must then be served on the spouse abroad through international legal-assistance channels, which can add several months to the case, so the spouse's foreign address should be established as precisely as possible before filing. An uncontested divorce, by contrast, requires both spouses to be heard by the judge in person (Art. 166/3).
Turkish law recognises only civil marriage; a religious ceremony on its own does not create a marriage in the civil registry, so there is nothing to dissolve by divorce. The practical questions are instead about children: where the parents are not married in a civil ceremony, the child is registered to the mother, and paternity is established by the father's acknowledgment before the civil registry, a notary or a court, or by a paternity action (Art. 295 Civil Code).
Divorce actions in Turkey fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the family courts (in locations without a dedicated family court, the civil court of first instance sits as a family court). Under Article 168 of the Civil Code, the action may be filed either at the court of the domicile of either spouse, or at the court of the place where the spouses last lived together for six months before the action. This venue rule applies regardless of nationality, so a foreign spouse living in Turkey may file in the family court of their own place of residence just as a Turkish spouse would. A divorce lawyer in Turkey handling a case with an international element will confirm venue and jurisdiction before filing, since getting either wrong can delay the case by months.
Our work on divorce, custody and alimony cases is not limited to Istanbul. A lawyer registered with a Turkish bar may appear before every court in Turkey, and we handle cases before the Ankara family courts and in other cities, with petitions filed and case files followed electronically through the national judicial system (UYAP).
Because Article 168 of the Civil Code lets the action be filed at the domicile of either spouse, a spouse living in Istanbul whose husband or wife lives in Ankara may choose between the Istanbul and the Ankara family courts; the court of the place where the couple last lived together for six months is a further option. Choosing between them is a practical decision — where the witnesses are, where the children live, and where any property is located.
For Turkish citizens, a personal-status action that has not been, or cannot be, brought before a foreign court is heard in Turkey at the territorially competent court; failing that, at the court of the place where the person resides; if they do not reside in Turkey, at the court of their last domicile in Turkey; and failing that, before one of the courts of Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir (Art. 41 of Law No. 5718). This matters for mixed couples where the Turkish spouse has moved abroad.
Readers looking for a divorce lawyer in Turkey will find the process for foreign spouses in Divorce in Turkey for Foreigners, recognition of a divorce granted abroad in Recognition of a Foreign Divorce in Turkey, and a shared mortgaged home in Division of a Mortgaged Home in Divorce.
An uncontested divorce, where the parties are in full agreement and the protocol is properly drafted, is generally concluded at a single hearing, though the exact date depends on the court's calendar. A contested divorce takes considerably longer — commonly well over a year, and longer still where witness testimony, expert reports, or an appeal are involved — because the court must first determine fault and the underlying facts before ruling on the divorce and its financial consequences. Giving a precise estimate before reviewing the file would not be realistic; a case-specific range can be given once the grounds and the likely areas of dispute are known.
A Turkish divorce involves several distinct cost components: court filing and service fees set by law, the cost of any expert examination the court orders (for example, a valuation of property or a custody-related pedagogical report), and attorney's fees, which are agreed individually between the client and the lawyer according to the scope and complexity of the file. Because a contested case with property or custody disputes involves materially more work than a straightforward uncontested divorce, costs are best discussed once the specific circumstances of the case are known.
Clients coming from common-law jurisdictions often expect concepts — such as court-created precedent, discovery, or a single unified concept of "marital property" — that do not translate directly into the Turkish system. Turkish family law is codified in the Civil Code and applied by professional judges without a jury; the default matrimonial property regime, participation in acquired property, working on a claim-based model rather than automatic joint ownership; and matters that would be handled in a single proceeding elsewhere (the divorce itself and the division of property) are, in Turkey, generally the subject of two separate actions, since the property claim can typically only be filed once the divorce judgment is final. Explaining these structural differences is often the first conversation a divorce lawyer in Turkey has with a new foreign client.
Turkish civil procedure applies strict, often short deadlines to filing evidence, raising objections, and lodging appeals, and a document not submitted in time is frequently excluded from the court's consideration regardless of its relevance. For a foreign-national spouse in particular, the combination of a codified, unfamiliar procedural system, a language barrier, and documents that may need translation or apostille makes early legal advice — before a petition is filed or a protocol signed — the point at which most avoidable mistakes are prevented.
An engagement does not create a binding obligation to marry; where one party breaks it off without just cause, the other party and their family may claim reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred in preparation for the marriage. Gifts exchanged during the engagement may generally be reclaimed if it is broken off, though customary, everyday gifts fall outside this rule.
A spouse who is less at fault, or not at fault, and whose existing or expected interest is harmed by the events leading to the divorce may claim pecuniary damages from the other spouse. A spouse whose personality rights are seriously harmed by those events may additionally claim non-pecuniary damages (Art. 174 Civil Code). Both claims may be raised together with the divorce action or in a separate action within one year of the divorce judgment becoming final. A divorce lawyer in Istanbul will typically raise these claims together with the main divorce action wherever possible, since doing so avoids a second lawsuit.
| Type | For Whom | Until When |
|---|---|---|
| Interim alimony | Spouse and/or children during proceedings | Until the action concludes (Art. 169 Civil Code) |
| Child support | From the parent not granted custody, for the child | As a rule until the child reaches majority |
| Poverty alimony | For a spouse who would fall into poverty because of the divorce | Indefinite, but may be lifted if circumstances change (Art. 175) |
| Regime | How It Applies | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Participation in acquired property | Applies automatically unless another regime is chosen | The statutory regime (Art. 202 Civil Code) |
| Separation of property | Each spouse manages their own property; acquisitions are not shared | Must be chosen by marital agreement |
| Shared separation of property | Similar to separation of property, but provides for a defined split on divorce | Must be chosen by marital agreement |
| Community of property | Spouses' property as a rule becomes joint ownership | Must be chosen by marital agreement; rarely selected today |
| Criterion | Uncontested Divorce | Contested Divorce |
|---|---|---|
| Requirement | Marriage lasted at least 1 year, and full agreement (Art. 166/3 Civil Code) | Must rely on a statutory ground (Articles 161-166 Civil Code) |
| Duration | Generally concluded at a single hearing | May require witness/expert examination; can take months to years |
| Burden of proof | None — the parties already agree | The party alleging the ground must prove it |
| Court's role | Reviews the protocol; may propose changes contrary to the child's interests | Weighs the evidence and rules on fault and the consequences of divorce |
| Matter | Deadline | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Uncontested divorce | Marriage must have lasted at least 1 year | Civil Code Art. 166/3 |
| Adultery; attempt on life or gross ill-treatment | 6 months from learning of it, at most 5 years from the event | Civil Code Arts. 161-162 |
| Desertion | 6 months' separation; warning after month 4; action 2 months after warning | Civil Code Art. 164 |
| New divorce after a dismissed action | 1 year after the dismissal becomes final | Civil Code Art. 166/4 (Law No. 7532, 2024) |
| Separate claims arising from the divorce (e.g. damages, alimony) | 1 year after the divorce judgment becomes final | Civil Code Art. 178 |
| Protective order for domestic violence | Initial order for up to 6 months | Law No. 6284 |
| Appeal (istinaf) against the judgment | 2 weeks from service of the reasoned judgment | Code of Civil Procedure Art. 345 |
| Document | Why It Is Needed | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Passport and residence permit (or foreigner ID number) | Identifies the party and supports jurisdiction | Sworn Turkish translation of the passport page |
| Marriage certificate | Proves the marriage | If issued abroad: apostille or consular legalisation, plus sworn translation |
| Children's birth certificates | Custody and child support | Same legalisation rules for documents issued abroad |
| Power of attorney for the lawyer | Allows the lawyer to file and act for you | Before a Turkish notary or a Turkish consulate abroad |
| Divorce protocol (uncontested divorce) | Sets custody, alimony, property and damages | Signed by both spouses; approved by the judge |
| Income and expense evidence | Alimony and child support calculations | Payslips, bank statements, rent and school costs |
| Evidence of the ground (contested divorce) | Proves the fault or breakdown alleged | Witnesses, messages, medical and police records |
Where the marriage has lasted at least one year and the parties have reached full agreement on the protocol, the process is generally concluded in a single hearing. The hearing date depends on the court's caseload. Additional time is required for the reasoned judgment to be issued and to become final.
The court takes the best interests of the child as its basis, considering the child's age, familiar environment, education, each parent's capacity to care for the child, and, where the child is of sufficient understanding, the child's own views. Economic strength alone is not decisive, and contact is arranged for the parent not granted custody.
Liquidation of the matrimonial property regime is as a rule the subject of a separate action, and the divorce judgment must first become final. Under the statutory regime of participation in acquired property, a participation claim of one half generally arises over property acquired during the marriage. Property acquired by inheritance or gift falls outside this scope.
Not automatically. For a foreign judgment to take effect in Turkey, recognition (tanıma) proceedings must be brought before a Turkish court, or, where the statutory conditions are met, administrative registration through the civil registry office is possible. Supporting documents generally need an apostille and a certified Turkish translation.
Yes. Turkish courts have jurisdiction where a connecting factor exists — for example, either spouse is habitually resident in Turkey, one spouse holds Turkish citizenship, or the marriage took place in Turkey. Which country's law applies is determined separately under Article 14 of Law No. 5718 (MÖHUK).
Under MÖHUK Art. 14, the spouses' common national law applies first; if they hold different nationalities, the law of their common habitual residence applies; if neither exists, Turkish law applies. For couples living together in Turkey, this generally means Turkish law governs.
Yes. Wedding gold and jewelry given to the bride are treated as her personal property under Turkish practice, and she may claim their return or their value even if they were later used for household expenses, unless the husband proves she agreed to that use as a gift. This claim is separate from property division and alimony.
If you have stayed in Turkey on a family residence permit for at least three years, you may be granted a short-term residence permit after the divorce (Art. 34/6 Law No. 6458). If not, the basis of the family permit falls away and you need to apply for another permit type in time. Where a court decision establishes that you were a victim of domestic violence, the three-year condition is not applied.
Yes. Law No. 6284 allows a family court to issue protective and preventive measures — removing the abuser from the home, barring contact, confidential-address protection — often within hours, and these apply to foreign spouses on the same basis as Turkish citizens.
Divorce is heard exclusively by the family courts. Under Article 168 of the Civil Code, you may file at the court of either spouse's domicile, or of the place where you last lived together for six months before the action — this applies regardless of nationality.
An uncontested divorce with a properly drafted protocol is usually concluded at a single hearing. A contested divorce commonly takes well over a year, longer where witness testimony, expert reports, or an appeal are involved.
Yes; gifts exchanged during an engagement may generally be reclaimed if it is broken off. Customary, everyday gifts, however, fall outside this rule and cannot be reclaimed. A party who breaks off the engagement without just cause may also be liable for the other party's reasonable expenses incurred in preparing for the marriage.
A spouse who is less at fault, or not at fault, and whose interest is harmed by the events leading to the divorce may claim pecuniary damages; a spouse whose personality rights are seriously harmed may also claim non-pecuniary damages (Art. 174 Civil Code). The claim may be raised together with the divorce action or in a separate action within one year of the judgment becoming final.
Yes. Our office works with English-speaking clients throughout a divorce in Turkey, from the first consultation through to the final judgment and, where relevant, its recognition abroad.
Av. Ömer Faruk Doğan holds an IELTS score of 7, pursued graduate legal studies and research in Italy and Poland, and has experience advising international companies and foreign individuals. Clients can be advised in English as well as Turkish throughout a divorce case in Turkey.
Either city. Under Article 168 of the Civil Code the action may be filed at the court of either spouse's domicile, or of the place where you last lived together for six months before the action. We handle divorce cases before both the Istanbul and the Ankara family courts.
Yes. A lawyer registered with a Turkish bar may appear before every Turkish court, and we act before the Ankara family courts and in other cities, with filings made electronically through UYAP. Our office itself is in Istanbul.
If the case has not been, or cannot be, brought abroad, it is heard in Turkey at the territorially competent court; failing that, where you reside; if you do not reside in Turkey, at the court of your last domicile in Turkey; and failing that, before one of the courts of Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir (Art. 41 of Law No. 5718).
Yes. For an uncontested divorce the judge must hear both spouses in person and be satisfied that they have freely agreed (Art. 166/3 Civil Code). A contested divorce, by contrast, can proceed with each spouse represented by a lawyer.
Yes, through a contested divorce, provided a Turkish court has jurisdiction. The petition must be served on your spouse abroad through international legal-assistance channels, which can add several months, so their foreign address should be established before filing.
If one year has passed since the dismissal became final and you have not resumed living together, the marriage is deemed irretrievably broken down and the court grants a divorce at either spouse's request (Art. 166/4 Civil Code, as amended by Law No. 7532 in 2024). The period used to be three years.
Yes. The action must be filed within six months of learning of the adultery and in any case within five years of it; a spouse who has forgiven it cannot sue on that ground (Art. 161 Civil Code). The same deadlines apply to an attempt on life or gross ill-treatment (Art. 162).
Leaving the shared home, or failing to return without just cause, for at least six months. After the fourth month a judge or notary can issue a warning to return within two months, and the action can only be filed once those two months have passed without return (Art. 164 Civil Code).
Not necessarily. Periodic alimony ends automatically if the recipient remarries or either party dies, and the court lifts it if the recipient lives with a partner as if married, is no longer in poverty, or leads a dishonourable life. The amount can also be increased or reduced when circumstances change (Art. 176 Civil Code).
Yes, in suitable cases. Turkish courts accept joint custody where it serves the child's best interests, typically when both parents agree and can cooperate. Otherwise custody is given to one parent, with a contact schedule for the other.
The family court can order, as a precautionary measure, that the child may not be taken abroad. If the child has already been removed, the Hague Convention on international child abduction, to which Turkey is a party, may apply, and speed is decisive.
Not without your express consent: neither spouse may transfer the family home, terminate its lease, or limit rights over it alone (Art. 194 Civil Code). If the title is in your spouse's name, you can have a family-home annotation entered in the land registry.
Two weeks from service of the reasoned judgment for an appeal (istinaf) to the regional court (Art. 345 Code of Civil Procedure). The divorce is registered with the civil registry only once the judgment becomes final.
Claims arising from the divorce that were not decided in the divorce case itself must be brought within one year of the divorce judgment becoming final (Art. 178 Civil Code).
Lawyers' fees cannot be agreed below the minimum tariff (AAÜT) prepared each year by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (Arts. 164 and 168 Attorneyship Law). The actual fee depends on whether the case is uncontested or contested and on the ancillary claims, and is quoted after the file is reviewed.
Turkish law recognises only civil marriage, so a religious-only ceremony is not a marriage in the civil registry and is not dissolved by divorce. For children, paternity is established by the father's acknowledgment or a paternity action (Art. 295 Civil Code).
That depends on your home country's law and procedure. A Turkish divorce is a court judgment; you will usually need a certified copy of the finalised judgment with an apostille and a translation to register it abroad.
Yes. The divorce case is filed where either spouse lives or where they last lived together for six months (Article 168 of the Civil Code). A lawyer registered with a Turkish bar can appear before all family courts in Turkey, so a divorce lawyer in Istanbul or a divorce lawyer in Ankara can follow it.
How Turkish courts decide custody for international families: which country's law applies, the child's interests with no fixed age rule, joint custody, visitation and child support, moving abroad, and the Hague return procedure under Law No. 5717.
Continue readingHow a foreigner marries a Turkish citizen in Turkey: the municipal marriage office, the certificate of capacity to marry and health report, polygamy and religious ceremonies, prenuptial agreements, family residence and citizenship after three years.
Continue readingDivorced abroad but still married in the Turkish registry? The registry route under Article 27/A, court recognition (tanıma) under MÖHUK Article 58, the conditions, documents, timing and what to do about alimony and custody orders.
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