Division of Marital Property Calculator (Turkey)

How is marital property divided in a Turkish divorce?

For spouses who married after 1 January 2002 and did not sign a marital property agreement, the statutory regime is participation in acquired property (Turkish Civil Code, Art. 202). Assets are not simply "split in half": each spouse's net acquired assets (the surplus) are calculated, and the other spouse may claim half of that surplus as a participation claim. Mutual claims are set off (Art. 236).

Acquired property vs personal property

Acquired property (Art. 219) is what a spouse acquires for consideration during the marriage: earnings from work, a home or car bought with salary, savings, social security and pension payments, compensation for loss of working capacity and income from personal property (e.g. rent from an inherited flat).

Personal property (Art. 220) is not divided: assets owned before the marriage, property later acquired by inheritance or gift, claims for non-pecuniary damages, items for exclusively personal use and assets replacing them.

How is the participation claim calculated?

A negative surplus is treated as zero; one spouse's debts cannot be passed on to the other (Art. 231). Assets are valued at their market value at the time of liquidation, which in Court of Cassation practice means the value as of the date closest to the judgment. The property regime ends on the date the divorce case is filed.

A home bought with a mortgage or partly with personal funds

If part of a property was paid with pre-marital savings, inheritance or loan instalments paid after the filing date, only the portion paid from income during the marriage up to the filing date is included. In practice this ratio is found by dividing the amount paid by the total purchase price and applying it to the property's current value.

Worked example

• A home was bought in 2018 for TRY 1,000,000; TRY 200,000 down payment came from one spouse's pre-marital savings, TRY 500,000 of loan instalments were paid from salary during the marriage and TRY 300,000 of the loan was still unpaid on the filing date.
• Acquired ratio: 500,000 ÷ 1,000,000 = 50%. Today's value TRY 6,000,000 → acquired portion TRY 3,000,000.
• The same spouse has TRY 400,000 in deposits and a TRY 100,000 credit card debt → surplus: 3,000,000 + 400,000 − 100,000 = TRY 3,300,000.
• If the other spouse's surplus is TRY 600,000: 1,650,000 − 300,000 = net participation claim of TRY 1,350,000 payable to the other spouse.

Property acquired before 2002 and contribution claims

Before 1 January 2002 the statutory regime was separation of property. For assets acquired before that date there is no participation claim; a contribution claim may be raised only if a financial contribution to the acquisition can be proven. The calculator flags such assets separately and excludes them from the participation calculation.

Value-increase claims

If one spouse contributed, without adequate consideration, to the acquisition, improvement or preservation of an asset belonging to the other, they have a value-increase claim in proportion to their contribution and based on the asset's value at liquidation (Art. 227) — for example renovation costs paid for the other spouse's pre-marital home.

Time limits, interest and proceedings

The liquidation case may be filed together with the divorce or separately; if filed together it waits until the divorce becomes final. According to Court of Cassation practice the limitation period is 10 years from the divorce becoming final. Statutory interest on the participation claim generally runs from the judgment date. The family court has jurisdiction and mediation is not mandatory for these cases.