Inheritance Fraud Lawsuits: Legal Nature, Requirements, And Litigation Process

Introduction

Inheritance fraud (muris muvazaası) is one of the most common inheritance-related disputes in Turkish legal practice. It typically arises when a deceased person (the decedent) transfers real property to one heir by disguising what is, in reality, a gratuitous transfer (gift) as a sale or a contract of maintenance until death, with the intention of depriving the remaining heirs of their inheritance rights. Although such transactions appear legally valid on their face, they do not reflect the parties' true intentions and are therefore evaluated under the legal principles governing sham transactions (muvazaa).

The Turkish Civil Code does not specifically regulate muris muvazaası. Instead, the legal framework has been developed primarily through Article 19 of the Turkish Code of Obligations concerning sham transactions and the landmark Unification of Judgments Decision No. 1/2 of the General Assembly for the Unification of Judgments of the Court of Cassation, dated 1 April