Grounds and Effects of Disinheritance

Legal Article · 12 November 2026
Attorney Thomas Andreas Di Constantinople

Disinheritance excludes an heir with a reserved share from the inheritance on grounds prescribed by law. TMK m. 510 covers the commission of a serious offence against the deceased or a person close to the deceased, or a substantial failure to fulfil obligations arising from family law towards the deceased or members of the deceased’s family. Not every disagreement within a family falls within this scope.

Stating and Proving the Ground

Disinheritance must be made through a testamentary disposition, and its ground must be stated in that disposition. If the disinherited person objects, the heir or legatee benefiting from the disinheritance must prove the stated ground. A general statement that “our relationship was poor” does not establish that the statutory requirements were met.

If no ground was stated or the ground cannot be proved, the disposition is generally carried out except to the extent of the heir’s reserved share. If the deceased made the disposition because of a manifest mistake concerning the ground for disinheritance, the disinheritance is invalid. This distinction shows that the entire disposition does not become ineffective in the same way in every case.

Valid disinheritance affects the disinherited person’s inheritance share and right to seek reduction. However, that person’s descendants do not automatically suffer the same consequence; the assumption that the person died before the deceased and protection of the descendants’ reserved shares are considered when the share passes. Protective disinheritance due to insolvency is also a special arrangement with separate conditions.

Source

Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, m. 510–513.

This article has been prepared for general legal information purposes.