Divorce Law in Turkey

A Turkish family court will hear a divorce whenever it has jurisdiction, regardless of the spouses' nationality or where the marriage took place. That single fact drives most cross-border divorce strategy: where a case is filed first often decides which law applies to the money, and the money is usually the real dispute.

Turkish divorce runs on two tracks. An uncontested divorce requires a minimum period of marriage, a joint application or acceptance, and a protocol on finances and children that the judge must approve — the judge is not a rubber stamp and will not approve an agreement that fails the children's interests. A contested divorce runs on statutory grounds, each with its own evidentiary demands and, for several of them, its own time limits that begin running from the moment the ground is discovered.

The financial consequences are separate claims, not automatic outcomes. Interim and post-divorce maintenance, compensation, and liquidation of the matrimonial property regime each have their own tests and their own deadlines, and the property regime is dealt with in a separate action from the divorce itself.

The guides below cover grounds and procedure, maintenance, property division, custody, prenuptial agreements and the recognition of foreign decrees. For the broader expat picture see family law for expats; for protective measures see criminal defense.