Refusal Inheritance Period
The duration of the refusal of inheritance is regulated under Article 606 of the TCC. According to this article, the inheritance may be rejected within three months. This period starts to run for legal heirs from the date they learnt of the death of the heir, unless it is proved that they learnt that they were heirs later; for heirs appointed by will, from the date they were officially notified of the disposition of the heir. Within the scope of this article, the heir must request the rejection of the inheritance within a period of three months from the death of the heir or from the date the heir learns that he/she is an heir. This rejection request is examined without the discretion of the Justice of the Peace.
According to Article 615 of the TMK, which is titled “Extension of the rejection period”; “In the presence of important reasons, the magistrate may extend the rejection period granted to the legal and appointed heirs or grant a new period.”
These periods are valid for the actual rejection of the inheritance. In the forfeited refusal, after the death of the heir, they can always request the determination of the insolvency of the heir on the date of death. In addition, heirs may request this determination from the Civil Court of First Instance.
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The beginning of the periods related to the refusal of inheritance should be explained as follows:
The Beginning of the Period of Refusal of Inheritance for Legal Heirs: As a rule, the 3-month period for legal heirs to reject the inheritance starts as soon as they learn about the death of the heir (Article 606 of the TCC). If the title of heirship is learnt later, the 3-month period starts from the date of learning. If the legal heir has been excluded from the inheritance by the testamentary disposition, the rejection period starts as soon as the heir learns that the testamentary disposition has been cancelled. It is applied in case of not being informed about the death of the heir due to reasons such as distance, non-contact.
The Beginning of the Period of Refusal of Inheritance for Inheritors Appointed by Will and Inheritance Agreement: The rejection period for appointed heirs is three months (Article 606 of the TCC). This period starts when the Civil Court of Peace officially opens the will and notifies the parties that they are heirs. For heirs appointed by inheritance contract, this period works in the same way as legal heirs. If a third party is appointed with this contract, it starts with the official notification as in the will.
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In terms of Recording the Inheritance: In the event that the inheritance is recorded as a protection measure, the period of refusal of inheritance starts with the notification of the recording process by the Civil Court of Peace for legal and appointed heirs. (Article 607 of the TMK)
In terms of Transmission of the Right of Refusal to Subsequent Heirs: The right of refusal of the heir who dies without refusing the inheritance passes to his/her heirs (Article 608 of the TCC). In this case, the heir who replaces the deceased heir has two rights of refusal. This heir has both the right to reject the inheritance left to him by his heir and the right to reject the inheritance left to his heir by his heir. The heir may reject both of these inheritances, or he may reject only the inheritance left to his heir. However, the heir cannot reject the inheritance from his own heir and accept the inheritance of the heir. Because the first inheritance passes to him as part of the estate of his own heir who died without rejecting the inheritance.
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