Pre-Nuptial Agreements in Turkey

Under the Civil Code, spouses can make pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements in Turkey about the marital property, before, during and after the marriage.

The legal marital property system is the “participation on the acquired assets” which means the spouses will benefit equally from the assets acquired during the marriage. In case of a divorce the Court will need to determine the type of assets in the division of matrimonial property. In this context, any personal belongings will not be included. If the spouses do not want to be subject to the legal marital property regime, they can choose shared separate property regime or communal property regime.

For detailed information about marriage contracts in Turkey, you can visit “Legal Terms of Marriage Contract in Turkey” page.

Validity of pre- and post-nuptial agreements

There are two different systems that govern the marital property regime under Turkish law. The arrangement can be based on the legal marital property system or a separate nuptial agreement.

The legal marital property system is the “participation on the acquired assets”, which means that the spouses will benefit equally from the assets acquired during the marriage. The rules of participation on the acquired assets will apply in the absence of a separate agreement about the marital property.

If the spouses do not want to be subject to the legal marital property regime, they can choose a separate property regime, shared separate property regime or communal property regime.

Under the Civil Code, spouses can make nuptial agreements about the marital property, before, during and after the marriage.

There are two different forms of pre-nuptial agreement (Article 205, Civil Code)

• Pre-nuptial agreement. The pre-nuptial agreement can be completed at a notary public.
• Marital property regime. The spouses can inform the marriage officer of the regime that they want to use when they apply for the marriage.

If the spouses decide to choose a marital property regime during the marriage application, they must inform the registrar of marriage in writing. If the spouses choose a separate property regime with a pre-nuptial agreement under Article 242 of the Civil Code, each spouse can protect his usufruct, management and disposition rights on his own property (within legal limits). In this type of regime, each spouse is liable for their own debts in relation to their own property and on divorce, the spouses will not have any rights to a claim in each other’s property. The institution of marriage is directly related with public policy and the judge has absolute authority regarding any conditions provided in a pre-nuptial agreement.