again I have just got back home, got a cup of coffee.
copy below. as you can see no real answer.
My questions.
> They were advised to make a Will for their property in Turkey, this was
> drawn up accordingly, the husband bequeathed all his goods etc. to his wife
> and the wife did the same bequeathing to her husband, the cost of this was
> approx £300-£500
> Unfortunately the husband died 2 years later; the wife when ready took the
> Turkish Will to a Turkish Advukat in turkey.
>
> To cut a long story short this is an account of what happened next, it may
> be out of timeline. (cost are approx and probably more)
The Advukat informed of their Fee including that of the Sworn Translator
> 5000TL, they then took the widow to the Notary so that the law firm could
> act on her behalf.\r\nthe next step was the Judge to open the Will 600Tl
> This info was then sent to the Embassy in Izmir.
seek out a UK lawyer to swear
> Allegiance, and draw up and Affiavit, Â £500 then Certificates needed to be
> Apostile Marriage Certificate £33 Birth Certificate of both spouses
> £66 Death Certificate  £33As there are Children involved they had to be
> contacted and Affidavits drawn to confirm that they did not wish to
> inherit. UK lawyer  £250The dead partners had brothers and sisters they
> too were contacted and sworn affidavits to and the dead brother an
> Apostiled death Certificate the cost  £500This information was then put to
> Turkish court to be ratified, Â £150 The information was collected and sent
> to Izmir,
Turkey to the surviving partners property; cost 500TLnat this stage if the
> court of peace and Tapu Manager cannot agree, because the husband
> bequeathed ALL his worldly goods, everything to the wife, he did not
> mention property, it then had to go to Justice Court 500Tl they agreed
> that this should include the property; back it went to the Peace Court,
> 500TL who then a!
> greed with the ruling of the Justice Court and the Tapu Manager agreed.
> The next step to have the property in th sol name of the Wife, was to the
> Tax office to obtain a stamp of inheritance. they inspect the papers and
> the cost is 10% of the declared property price, in this case it was a
> small 2 bed apartment  £38,000, therefore the cost  £3,800 (or the Turkish
> Lira equivalent of the day). The Tax receipt is then taken to the Tapu
> office and they put the Title of the property into the name of the
> surviving Spouse. Therefore the cost (approx) is £5,500 and over 4 years
> to conclusion.I forgot to mention that the Wife was fined at the Tax
> office because she waited 6months to report the death. The total huge, and remember that most of this money is upfront in Turkey.
The 2ndOur British
> neighbour was murdered; he did not have a Turkish Will and was
> not married. He did own property in the UK and held a UK Will. His house
> was closed for 2 years by the prosecutor, in this time a UK law firm were
> instructed by the executors of his UK Will to seek possession of the
> property even though he has a Son and Daughter, the firm eventually sent 2
> employees to Turkey along with the son and Daughter to sort through the
> moveable assets, the law firm also held POA to seize the bank account,
> transferring funds to the UK bank in line with the executors of the UK
> Will. The house was then locked up and a Turkish Lawyer to deal with the
> sale of the Villa. The property eventually sold and the proceeds went to
> the Bank in the UK for the UK estate to deal with as per instructions of
> the UK Will. The cost was very expensive as employees of the firm had to
> visit Turkey, a UK law firm and Turkish Law firm and courts involved, the
> cost was between £8,000-£10,000 and took 5 years to resolve.
No where are these facts confirmed or aknowledged, typical Lawyers, tell you how much they want for the work we are all aware of but will not inform you of the facts.
Reply
Thank you for your enquiry with Property&Turkey.
First of all, I would like to make it clear that preparing a Turkish will is complicated. If you go to wrong address, everything can get messed up as you experience in your friends' cases.
The important thing is Turkish will needs to be prepared by a professional who knows Turkish Inheritance Law very well and who can give advice to their clients by taking into account client's personal conditions.
Most of the lawyers are missing one point. Under Turkish Inheritance Law, legal heirs have hidden shares which cannot be changed by a will. In this case, the legal heir needs to waive from his/her shares in order to be excluded from the estate. This should be made under an agreement between the legal heir and legator and this agreement is subject to same requirements as will, therefore it should be notarized in a notary with two witnesses. If it is notarized in the UK, then it should be legalized at FCO in order to be valid under Turkish law.
Turkish will is definitely necessary for foreigners who have property in Turkey, because these properties will be dealt with under Turkish Inheritance Law if the owners pass away. Also, this property should be mentioned in the will. What we recommend to our clients is preparation of a Turkish will for their property in Turkey and preparation of an English will for their assets in the UK.
Furthermore, if the owner gives a Power of Attorney to someone else to sell or transfer the property, this Power of Attorney becomes valid upon the death of the owner. Even if the Grantee sells or transfers the property by using this PoA, this transaction is invalid and the heirs can sue him/her and take the property back.
I hope the above information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions.
