Heirs with Reserved Shares and Protected Proportions

Legal Article · 12 November 2026
Attorney Thomas Andreas Di Constantinople

A reserved share is the minimum part of an inheritance protected for specified intestate heirs against the deceased’s dispositions. It is not the same concept as the intestate inheritance share. The heir’s statutory share is calculated first, followed by the protected proportion of that share. As a rule, the deceased may dispose of the portion outside reserved shares.

Protection Is Not the Same for Every Heir

Under TMK m. 506, a descendant’s reserved share is half of their intestate inheritance share. For each parent, the protected proportion is one quarter of that parent’s own intestate share. A surviving spouse has a reserved share equal to their entire intestate share when inheriting with descendants or the parents’ class, and three quarters of that share in other cases.

Although siblings may be intestate heirs, they do not have reserved shares under the current rules. A sibling’s failure to receive an inheritance share therefore does not alone create a reduction claim based on a reserved share. However, an invalid disposition or another legal ground may be examined separately.

Whether a reserved share has been infringed cannot be determined solely from the total value of assets registered at the date of death. Estate debts, statutory deductions and lifetime benefits subject to reduction must also be taken into account. Infringement of a reserved share does not automatically invalidate the whole disposition; protection is provided through reduction if its conditions are satisfied.

Source

Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, m. 505–506, 560.

This article has been prepared for general legal information purposes.