Marital Property Division in Divorce Actions in Turkey
Marital property division in Turkish law; the regime of participation in acquired property is accepted as the legal matrimonial regime in the marriage community. Other matrimonial regimes stated in the law can be applicable provided that spouses specifically opt for them as the legal matrimonial regime.
In the regime of participation in acquired property, all property owned in the marriage community is regarded as acquired property. It means that spouses divide in half property that they acquire within the marriage community, except for the personal property of spouses.
These is the acquired property;
- Property acquired in return for personal work,
- Incomes or salaries obtained from social security institutions or social welfare associations or provident funds established for supporting the employees or the like.
- Compensations paid due to the loss of working power
- Incomes from personal property
- Values that can be substituted for acquired property
Personal property is listed in Article 220 of the Turkish Civil Code;
- Personal Property Set Out by the Law
- Property that only serves for the personal use of a spouse
- Property belonging a spouse at the beginning of the matrimonial regime or property acquired by a spouse through inheritance or any kind of gratuitous acquisition.
- Non-pecuniary compensations
- Values that can be substituted for personal property
- Personal Property Set Out by the Contract
Spouses may agree on by contract that property acquired as a result of the performance of a profession or running a business, which should be included in acquired property under normal conditions, can be regarded as personal property. Spouses may agree by a matrimonial regime contract that the incomes of personal property shall not be included in the acquired property.
WHEN IS DIVISION OF PROPERTY CASE FILED?
Division of property case can be filed together with divorce case. Spouses should make a claim about it. Otherwise, the judge cannot decided on division of property on its own motion. The claimant may request for the trial of division of property case when filing for divorce case.
In addition, a separate division of property case can be filed after the divorce case is finalized.
In both cases, first, divorce case is heard, and then division of property case is tried.
The time bar of taking the division of property action filed separately from the divorce action is 10 years.
THE COMPONENT COURT IN THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY CASE
The component court in division of property cases is family courts.
The case is filed in the court where the divorce case is heard or finalized. The case can also be filed in the court of the place where the respondent spouse reside in or, if the spouse has died, where the dead spouse resided in.
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