Legal ReviewMARITAL PROPERTY IN TURKISH LAW

At present, unfortunately quite a great part of marriages doesn’t last long, though they’re acted with the hope of a life-long duration. Every day there’s an increasing number of divorce cases. In this situation, marital property bears great importance from the point of the results of divorce.
There has been an important legislation in Civil Law has come into effect in 01/01/2002. By lot of amendments in the said law, has also brought new changes in Marital Property situations.
Then what is marital property and its kinds? Marital property means the right s and responsibilities of the spouses on the goods having been acquired before and after the marriage and the rules about the division of them in case the marriages comes to an end.
In Turkish Civil Law there exist two kinds of Marital Law; Legal Marital Property System and Contractual one.
If the spouses haven’t acted an agreement about Marital Property then the legal system is valid. In Turkish Law, participating the Acquired Marital Property is the legal system. If the spouses aren’t willing to be subject to legal system then they have an option either separate property system, that is, shared separate property system or community of property system. Even if they have preferred any of the above system or none of them, they may prefer one of them afterwards.
According to ex Turkish Civil Code, the spouses might choose one of the three systems in the law either before the marriage or after namely separate property system, community of property system and property partnership system. On account of not preferring any of them “separate property system” would be valid. Where as new civil law has adopted Acquired Marital Property system as the legal one.
Whatever system has been accepted by the spouses before the date (01.01.2002) that the New Turkish Civil Law came into effect, the one they accepted would be legally valid system as a rule. But if the spouses haven’t preferred any of the property regimes before and not after one year that the new law was valid, they will be subject to the Acquired Marital Property Law System, brought about by the New Turkish Civil Law as the legal system. As an example take a couple who’s married in 1998 and not preferred any of the said regimes in this case they are to be subject to separate marital property system until 01/01/2002 and if they haven’t preferred any of the systems until one year after the legislation of the new law they will be subject to the acquired marital property system.
Though the system mentioned above is quite detailed and having many problems during the liquidation of the assets ; yet it has an aspect of justice. In this system the spouses have their own assets and acquired property of the spouses. What is meant by personal assets consists two categories. The first one is the personal assets of the spouses. They may be determined according to the law and the contract. The personal assets are the ones, the assets that are the subject matters of personal uses, the assets that have acquired before marriage, the assets acquired by heresy or donation the assets based on the intangible damages credits and assets substituted as personal assets. As for the acquired marital property are the ones fees, salaries etc as an actual work, any of the payments made by social security agencies and income of personal assets belonging as rents, interests equally divided between the spouses during the liquidation of the assets.
Besides, there exist two presumptions in the acquired marital property system that is added as the legal system. The first, all of the assets of one of spouses is deemed as acquired marital property system, until the contrary is proved. Secondly the assets whose ownership is not proved is deemed as acquired marital property.
As for the form of the said marital property regime, it has been legislated in the New Turkish Civil Code Article 205 as follows.
The marital property contract may be arranged in notary public or may be confirmed by the some agent. Additionally it may be declared to the marriage registrar. The latter one needn’t be in written form, it will be sufficient to be orally declared.
Though the new system as seemingly complicated, its aim is to protect the rights of aggrieved parties after the marriages is ended.