Divorce Due to Mental Illness in Turkey
The Turkish Civil Code allows divorce due to mental illness in some situations. According to the law, mental illness is the ground for divorce in these situations. Article 165 of the Turkish Civil Code provides that “ when one spouse is mentally ill and the marriage community becomes unbearable for the other spouse for this reason, as long as the impossibility of the recovery from the illness is established by an official health board report, the other spouse may file a divorce case.”
To file a divorce case, these conditions should be met;
- One of the spouses is mentally ill
- Recovery from the illness is impossible
- The marriage community becomes unbearable for the other spouse
Here, these conditions will be analyzed in more details.
ONE OF THE SPOILER IS MIND ILLNESS
To file a divorce due to mental illness case, not every kind of illness but mental illness is considered as the ground for divorce. It implies that illnesses other than mental illness such as cancer, AIDS or pox, regardless of the severity of the illness or whether or not there is cure for it, cannot be the ground for divorce. This fact is also true for illnesses like paralysis or rheumatism. The identification of mental illness will be made by medical experts according to the science of medicine. According to Yargıtay, epilepsy is not a mental illness, either.
The mental illness that will be considered as the ground for divorce should occur after the marriage. Namely, one spouse should not have this illness when spouses get married. If one spouse is mentally ill before the marriage, it is already an absolute marriage obstacle. That is, marriage contract cannot be concluded because of the mental incapacity of the said spouse. If spouses somehow get married, mental illness will be subject to the sanction of absolute nullity. In this case, marriage can be annulled. If the mental illness of one of the spouse is the kind of illness that will not be obstacle for marriage, irrespective of the mental illness exists before or after marriage, it will have no effect on marriage.
RECOVERY FROM THE ILLNESS IS IMPOSSIBLE
To file a divorce due to mental illness, the illness should be a mental illness without cure or treatment. In the law, the impossibility is stated as “ recovery from the illness is impossible.” This illness has no treatment according to current medical practices and cannot be recovered using all available possibilities and tools. For example, in case of mental illnesses like schizophrenia or paranoia, a divorce case due to mental illness can be filed.
When the case is filed, the court will require an official health board report that identifies the impossibility of recovery from the illness and rely on this report while delivering its judgement.
THE MARRIAGE COMMUNITY BECOMES UNBEARABLE FOR THE OTHER SPOUSE
Other than two grounds stated above, to file a divorce case, the marriage community should become unbearable for the other spouse due to the mental illness. The judge investigates the existence of this situation during the divorce case
The following situations are the example of when the marriage community becomes unbearable for the other spouse;
- permanent mental incapacity
- Attacking the other spouse in a way it put its life in danger
- behaviors that intimidate the other spouse
- the spouse with mental illness permanently has treatment at a health institution
There will be much more situations in which divorce case can be filed due to mental illness.
Ozan Soylu Law Office offers counselling services on divorce cases due to mental illness and other divorce types and execute the case process.
For more detailed information about the Divorce Case, you can contact us on our contact page.
