Making a Will in Turkey, Oh no not that subject I hear you all groan.
We have all been indoctrinated into believing that making a Turkish Will saves so much hassle for the loved ones left behind, you last Will and Testament will be dealt with according to you wishes. How wrong can one be!!
Making a Will, the offices are very happy to take your money, notary fees have a minimum and maximum amount to charge, I bet it is the maximum charged not the lesser.
Ok let us get to the point. We have 3 people who have not made a Will Turkish or otherwise, and 1 that has gone by the book making a Will in Turkey.
1st. This one dies in exceptional circumstances, so his estate is not going to be as straight forward to start with. This case is still ongoing.
The gentleman died in 2005, but the family could not do anything until the police and prosecutor allowed the house to be open.
The family started proceedings in 2006.
After much to'ing and fro'ing the Turkish agreed to sign the house over to the son and daughter, however, the UK legal system steps in, he died intestate, therefore, the property has now to be handed over to become part of his estate, then the "heirs" can make their claims on the estate.
2008 still ongoing, Turkish part is finalised.
2nd, The spouse dies in the UK, no Will, however, they do have a joint bank account, this is frozen, and still frozen, after a year.
3rd, Spouse dies in Turkey, no Will, surviving spouse goes to a lawyer situated near to the courts and hospital, this lawyer is on the ball, only half the bank account is frozen.
75% of the Tapu will go into surviving spouses name and 25% to the 2 children, the hold up on completion of the Tapu is having the Death certificate Apostilled by a UK Lawyer and stamped by Foreign common wealth office. However, the spouse is in no hurry and says this can wait.
The cost is 3,000TL plus VAT. Tax and legal letters.
4th. The Will is made in Turkey in 2006 by a firm ETL (work it out yourselves). Both parties blissfully happy that their house is in order.
Wrong!!
This is a personal one so I will give what is required when actioning a will, so be warned.
(apostilles are required for all certificates, heirs, inheritors spouses, the lot)
This case the Will states quite clearly everything is to go to the surviving spouse.
Make an appointment and present the Will to the lawyer, in this case the firm ETL, they also made the Will and did not recognise it. After 3 hours of listening and watching them flaff around, causing even more distress) they requested originals death certificates of the deceased Mother and Father!!; (the deceased in this case was in the 70th year). then requested original birth certificates of any bloody relatives still living, brother, sister children etc.
Yes the originals of birth certificates, now you are all thinking bloody hell, what happens if you have family you do not get on with, or are money grabbers, ask them for their birth certificates and they are going to think, "ah, there is something in this for me" of course they will.
The next step is to pay a lawyer in the UK, swear an affidavit to confirm that the certificates are authentic, and then they have to have an Apostille attached with the stamp of the Foreign office. You can at this stage (honest lawyer) swear an affidavit declaring no other heirs.
Now remember the cost for the 3rd person, the cost quoted by the firm we were using (above) 4,500TL plus 100GBP plus notary plus VAT plus the UK lawyer.
After 3 hours of being shouted at not spoken to, and then this woman and lawyer wanting to explain to us what happens if you don't make a Will, I ended up having to shout over this woman saying we have a Will, why tell us something that is nothing to do with us.
We were requested to go to the notary NOW as the lawyer would like a cigarette!
Whilst we were waiting in the Notary office I made a few phone calls, the conflicting info I was hearing started bells ringing, the notary document was not signed, just did not feel comfortable.
We have since found a lovely quite caring person, she has explained all to me after she had a meeting with the Judge.
So Far, we have the option of traveling to Izmir and presenting ourselves to the Embassy to declare in person that there are no heirs, however, as the Death Certificate still needs to have apostile documents it is not worth this extra hassle.
This new lawyer and his sworn translator is so much more Gentle and understanding in their approach, understanding that this procedure is new to foreigners as well as the Turkish procedure.
So ETL, you will never shout at me again or slam the phone down when we declined to go with your company. They insisted in telling us that they do this work all the time, yet could not fully explain the procedure or the cost?
Your professional attitude stinks!
"Apostille is also a French word which means a certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to the legalisation of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarised by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention.
In countries which are not signatories to the 1961 convention and do not recognize the apostille, a foreign public document must be legalised by a consular officer of the country from which the document is issued."
When we are back in the UK it would be an idea to have both our birth certificates sworn and have the apostille attached, I do not see a time limit on this action as it is only declaring the documents are correct.
The main concern is this, I am in NO WAY sharing ANYTHING with the family, this feeling is mutual. Now what is the answer to this one? sell up, hide the money, and rent?
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