Inheriting Property in Turkey as a Canadian Heir: Applicable Law, Canadian Estate Papers and the Tapu Transfer

Either way, the Turkish title does not move until heirship is proven in Türkiye. This guide explains which law applies, what Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec estate papers can and cannot do at a Turkish land registry, when a foreign heir may keep the property under Article 35, and how to reject an inheritance from Canada within three months.

Two situations typically bring Canadian families to a Turkish land registry. In the first, a parent who lived in Türkiye dies there, and some or all of the children have built their lives in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or Vancouver. In the second, a Canadian who bought an apartment in Istanbul or on the coast dies at home in Canada, and the estate trustee, liquidator or family now has to reach a Turkish title that the Canadian estate papers do not even describe.

In both cases ownership has already passed in law. Under Article 599 of the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721), the heirs acquire the estate as a whole, by operation of law, at the moment of death. What is missing is proof that a Turkish land registry, bank or notary will accept, and a registration in the heirs’ names. Article 705(2) of the same Code draws the line: in cases of succession ownership is acquired before registration, but the owner can carry out acts of disposal only once the ownership is registered in the land register.

This guide is written for heirs in Canada. It covers the applicable law in three typical family situations, what Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec estate documents can do in Türkiye, the Canadian paperwork a Turkish court or land registry asks for, the limits on foreign ownership in Article 35 of the Land Registry Law, rejection of an inheritance from abroad, and the practical sequence for the title deed, bank accounts and a car. The general rules on recognising foreign probate documents and on the intikal are covered in our guide to foreign succession documents and the heirs’ tapu transfer.

Which law decides who inherits: nationality, location and Canada’s provinces

Turkish conflict-of-laws rules are in the Law on Private International and Procedural Law (MÖHUK, Law No. 5718). Article 20 has five paragraphs, and each one matters to a Canadian family:

• Paragraph 1: succession is governed by the national law of the deceased, and Turkish law applies to immovables located in Türkiye.
• Paragraph 2: the rules on the causes of the opening of the succession, on its acquisition and on its partition are governed by the law of the country where the estate is located.
• Paragraph 3: an estate in Türkiye that has no heirs passes to the State.
• Paragraph 4: the form of a disposition mortis causa (a will or an inheritance contract) follows Article 7, and a disposition made in the form of the deceased’s national law is also valid. Article 7 accepts the form of the country where the act was made or of the law governing its substance.
• Paragraph 5: capacity to make such a disposition follows the person’s national law at the time it was made.

A Turkish parent dies in Türkiye. The national law of the deceased is Turkish law, so Turkish law governs the whole estate: the apartment, the bank deposits and the car alike. The children’s Canadian citizenship does not change the applicable law. It changes the paperwork and, as explained below, their position under Article 35.

A Canadian owner dies in Canada. The apartment is governed by Turkish law under the second sentence of Article 20(1), including the reserved shares (saklı pay) that Article 506 of the Civil Code gives to descendants, parents and the surviving spouse. Movables, such as money in a Turkish bank or a car, follow the deceased’s national law. For a Canadian that raises a question the statute anticipates: Canada has more than one legal system. Under Article 2(5) of Law No. 5718, where the state whose law applies is divided into territorial units with different legal systems, that state’s own law decides which unit’s law applies; failing a decisive rule, the law of the unit most closely connected with the dispute applies. The Turkish judge applies the foreign law of their own motion and may ask the parties for help in establishing its content; if it cannot be established despite all research, Turkish law applies (Article 2(1)-(2)). Heirs should therefore be ready to document the relevant provincial succession rules.

A Turkish-Canadian dual citizen dies in Canada. Where the applicable law depends on nationality and the person also held Turkish citizenship, Turkish law applies (Article 4(1)(b)). The estate in Türkiye is then dealt with entirely under Turkish law, whatever the province of residence. If the deceased held several nationalities and none of them was Turkish, the law of the state with which they had the closest connection applies (Article 4(1)(c)); for the Turkish real estate this changes nothing, because Article 20(1) applies Turkish law to it in every case.

Two consequences follow for wills. A will made in Canada is valid as to form if it meets the form of the place where it was made (Articles 7 and 20(4)). Validity of form does not protect the content: a will leaving the Turkish apartment to one child alone is measured against the Turkish reserved shares. Without a will, Turkish statutory shares apply to the Turkish property: children inherit in equal shares (Civil Code Article 495), and a surviving spouse inheriting together with the deceased’s descendants takes one quarter of the estate (Article 499).

What Canadian estate papers do, and do not do, in Türkiye

After a death in Canada the family usually holds one of three kinds of document:

• Ontario: a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee, issued by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The Ontario government describes it as giving the estate trustee authority to manage the estate assets and pay the estate debts.
• British Columbia: a grant of probate or a grant of administration, which the province’s Wills, Estates and Succession Act calls a “representation grant”.
• Quebec: a notarial will is an authentic act and does not need to be probated; a holograph will or a will made before witnesses must be probated, by a notary or by the Superior Court. The person who settles the estate is the liquidator of the succession.

These documents answer a Canadian question: who may administer the estate. The Turkish land registry asks a different one: who the heirs are, and in what shares, under the law that governs the Turkish property. Turkish law starts from the heirs rather than from an administrator. Under Article 599 of the Civil Code the heirs acquire the deceased’s rights in rem, receivables, other property rights and possession directly at death, and become personally liable for the deceased’s debts.

The Land Registry Law deals with foreign estates in a short provision that is easy to miss. Article 37 of Law No. 2644 states that the intikal of foreign natural persons is carried out on the basis of certificates of inheritance issued by Turkish courts, or issued by their own competent authorities and approved by Turkish courts as conforming to Turkish law on succession procedure. Article 58 of Law No. 5718 points the same way. A foreign judgment is accepted as conclusive evidence or res judicata only once a Turkish court finds that it meets the enforcement conditions, without the reciprocity condition of Article 54(1)(a). Non-contentious decisions are recognised in the same way, and the same procedure applies where an administrative act is to be carried out in Türkiye on the basis of a foreign judgment.

That leaves heirs with two routes:

1. A Turkish certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi, still widely called veraset ilamı). Under Article 598(1) of the Civil Code it is issued, on application, to those found to be statutory heirs, by the civil court of peace (sulh hukuk mahkemesi) or by a notary. Article 71/B of the Notaries Act (Law No. 1512) closes the notarial route where issuing it would require adjudication, where the civil registry records are not sufficient, or where foreigners request it. Its invalidity can be raised at any time (Article 598).
2. Recognition of the Canadian decision by a Turkish court of first instance (asliye mahkemesi), under Article 58 of Law No. 5718; Article 51, which assigns enforcement cases to that court, is applied to recognition in practice. For ex parte non-contentious decisions there is no service on an opposing party, and the request is decided under the simple procedure (Article 55(1)).

Which route is shorter depends on what the Canadian document actually decides. An appointment that names an administrator without determining heirs and shares under Turkish law gives a Turkish court little to recognise for land registry purposes. In that situation the Turkish certificate, with the Canadian papers as evidence, is often the more direct path. The difference between recognition and enforcement is explained in our guide to enforcing a Canadian court judgment in Türkiye.

The Canadian document set

Proof of death

For a death in Ontario, ServiceOntario issues the official provincial records. The province lists the certified copy of death registration (without cause of death) as the record that may be needed for settling an estate outside the country. In other provinces and territories the equivalent record comes from the provincial or territorial vital statistics office.

Proof of family relationship

Birth records of the children, the marriage record of the surviving spouse and, where an earlier marriage ended, the divorce. Divorce matters directly: under Article 181(1) of the Civil Code divorced spouses cannot be each other’s statutory heirs and, unless the disposition shows otherwise, lose what a will made before the divorce gave them. If a Turkish citizen’s Canadian divorce never reached the Turkish civil register, the register may still show the marriage. Article 27/A of Law No. 5490 allows a foreign divorce to be entered administratively through the Turkish mission in the country where it was granted, if the statutory conditions are met; otherwise recognition runs under Law No. 5718. See our guide to recognition of a Canadian divorce in Türkiye.

The will and the Canadian appointment

A certified copy of the will and of the Ontario certificate or British Columbia grant, or for Quebec a copy of the notarial will. A will relied on in Türkiye is opened by the civil judge of peace and read to those concerned within one month of its delivery, whether or not it is valid (Civil Code Article 596). A person named in a will receives a certificate as appointed heir or legatee only if no objection is made within one month of notification (Article 598(2)).

Apostille and translation

The Hague Apostille Convention has applied in Canada since 11 January 2024 and in Türkiye since 29 September 1985. Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan issue apostilles for documents within their competence; Global Affairs Canada issues them for federal documents and for documents issued or notarized in the other provinces and territories. Each apostilled document then needs a certified Turkish translation.

The Turkish civil register for Turkish-Canadian families

Where the deceased or the heirs are Turkish citizens, the Turkish civil register (nüfus kaydı) carries the certificate. A birth abroad must be notified to the Turkish mission within sixty days (Law No. 5490, Article 15(1)); a marriage before Canadian authorities is declared through the mission (Article 24); and a mission that learns of a death notifies it within ten days (Article 31(1)). Where someone who has died still appears alive in the register, the civil registry office records the death on an application supported by a document showing it (Article 33(1)). Grandchildren inherit in place of a child who died before the deceased (Civil Code Article 495). Where a grandchild born in Canada never reached the Turkish register, the civil registry records may not be sufficient for a notary (Notaries Act, Article 71/B), and the file then moves to the civil court of peace.

Can a Canadian heir keep the property? Article 35 of the Land Registry Law

Article 35(1) of Law No. 2644 allows foreign natural persons who are citizens of countries determined by the President, with regard to bilateral relations and the country’s interests, to acquire immovables and limited real rights in Türkiye, subject to statutory restrictions. Two ceilings apply: the total area held by foreign natural persons may not exceed ten percent of the district’s area subject to private ownership, and thirty hectares per person nationwide; the President may raise the per-person figure up to twice that amount. A later paragraph of the same article lets the President determine, limit, partly or wholly suspend, or prohibit acquisitions by country, person, region, period, number, ratio, type, nature, area and amount.

Inheritance happens by operation of law, so Article 35 does not stop the heir from becoming owner at death. The last paragraph of the article deals with what follows. Immovables and limited real rights acquired by inheritance outside the limits of the first paragraph must be liquidated by the owner within a period, not exceeding one year, given by the Ministry of Finance; if the owner does not do so, they are liquidated, converted into money, and the proceeds are paid to the right holder.

Three practical points for families in Canada:

• Check eligibility for each heir’s nationality before the intikal. This guide deliberately does not list countries; the question is answered under the presidential determinations in force on the day of the transfer. Our guide to buying property in Türkiye as a foreigner explains how Article 35 works for purchases.
• Turkish citizenship changes the analysis. A dual citizen inherits as a Turkish citizen. Under Article 28(1) of the Turkish Citizenship Law (No. 5901), people who were Turkish citizens by birth and lost that citizenship with a permission to renounce it, and their descendants up to the third degree, keep enjoying the rights of Turkish citizens except those the article excludes (for example, they do not vote or stand for election and have no military service obligation); provisions on national security and public order are reserved. Acquiring immovable property is not among the exclusions. Article 28(6) provides for the Blue Card (Mavi Kart) that shows this status.
• The ceilings are measured per district and per person. For farmland or large plots, check them before the transfer rather than after.

Rejecting an inheritance from Canada

Because heirs become personally liable for the deceased’s debts under Article 599, a family in Canada that suspects a mortgage, tax arrears or guarantees given for a family business should look at the liabilities before taking any step that looks like acceptance. The Civil Code rules are short:

• Who and how. Statutory and appointed heirs may reject the inheritance (Article 605(1)). The rejection is made to the civil court of peace by an oral or written declaration and must be unconditional; the judge records it, a timely rejection is entered in the special register of the civil court of peace of the place where the succession opened, and the heir may ask for a document showing it (Article 609).
• Deemed rejection. If at the date of death the deceased’s insolvency was obvious or officially established, the inheritance is deemed rejected (Article 605(2)).
• The period. Three months (Article 606). For statutory heirs it starts on the day they learned of the death, unless they prove that they learned only later that they were heirs; for heirs appointed by will, on the day the disposition was officially notified to them. There is no separate period for heirs living abroad.
• Extension. For important reasons the civil judge of peace may extend the period or grant a new one (Article 615).
• Losing the right. An heir who, before the period ends, deals with the estate beyond ordinary administration and the deceased’s necessary affairs, or hides or appropriates estate assets, can no longer reject; an heir who does not reject in time acquires the inheritance unconditionally (Article 610).

For heirs in Canada the risk lies in the starting point. The clock runs from knowledge of the death, not from the day someone in the family finally looks at the Turkish file. A rejection filed through a representative should rest on a power of attorney that names it expressly.

Three family situations compared

Step by step: title deed, bank accounts and a car

1. List the assets. Collect what the family has: title deed copies, the province and district of each property, bank names, vehicle papers.
2. Prove heirship. Obtain the Turkish certificate of inheritance or a recognition decision, using the Canadian records described above.
3. Treat the tax filing as a separate step. The inheritance and transfer tax (veraset ve intikal vergisi) has its own return and rules, summarised in the tax section of our guide to foreign succession documents. Under Article 19 of Law No. 7338, inherited immovables are registered without waiting for the tax assessment, but they cannot be transferred or charged until the tax attributable to them is paid in full, and land registry officers need the tax office’s clearance certificate before a transfer; the same article allows a transfer to be permitted where security is given for the assessed tax.
4. Register the intikal. The land registry directorate where the property lies registers the heirs on the basis of the certificate. It also needs a compulsory earthquake insurance (DASK) policy: under Article 11(2) of Law No. 6305, land registry directorates do not carry out registration transactions on buildings subject to that insurance unless a policy valid on the transaction date is documented. Several heirs are registered as a community: until partition they own the estate jointly and dispose of its rights together (Civil Code Article 640). On the application of any heir, the civil court of peace may appoint a representative for the community until partition, which helps when the heirs are spread between Canada and Türkiye.
5. Release bank money. Banks ask for the certificate of inheritance. Under Article 17 of Law No. 7338 they also ask for a tax office certificate showing the tax has been paid before handing over money covered by the tax; if none is produced, the article lets them withhold an amount on account of the tax and pay the balance. A safe-deposit box of the deceased may be opened, and its contents handed over, only in the presence of an authorised tax office official, unless the civil judge of peace makes the record (Article 23).
6. Re-register or sell the car. A vehicle registered in Türkiye passes with the estate like any other asset, and the certificate of inheritance is the starting document for transferring or selling it.
7. Sell or keep. The heirs can sell or mortgage only after the intikal is registered (Civil Code Article 705(2)).

Handling the file from Canada

Most of this work can be done without travelling. A power of attorney signed in Canada can authorise a lawyer in Türkiye to apply for the certificate of inheritance, file a recognition request, register the intikal, deal with banks and the vehicle registry, sell the property or reject the inheritance; each power should be named expressly. Turkish citizens can sign it before a Turkish consular officer, since notarial functions abroad are carried out by consuls (Notaries Act, Article 191). Türkiye has an Embassy in Ottawa and Consulates General in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. A power of attorney signed before a Canadian notary needs an apostille and a certified Turkish translation. The form and wording are covered in our guide to powers of attorney and apostilles from Canada.

How Lex Lata works with heirs in Canada

Lex Lata acts for heirs and estate representatives in Canada in Turkish succession matters: certificates of inheritance before the civil courts of peace, recognition of Canadian decisions, land registry transfers, bank and vehicle steps, rejection of inheritance and the sale of inherited property. The work is done remotely and in English, on the basis of apostilled records and a power of attorney. Related work on property held from abroad is described under real estate and property law. Other guides for readers in Canada are collected on our page for Canadians with a legal matter in Türkiye, and files can be discussed through the contact page.