Assets registered in the other spouse’s name in divorce proceedings

Are the assets you acquired during the marriage registered in your spouse’s name? So what can we do during the divorce? Does the other spouse also have a share in these assets?

The Turkish Civil Code, which entered into force on 1 January 2002, significantly changed the division of property on divorce. With the relevant provisions, equal sharing of assets acquired during the marriage became the rule, regardless of in whose name they are registered. Under the former law, as to assets acquired during the marriage, ownership was regarded as belonging only to the spouse who held title. This was a disadvantage especially for women, because men were most often the owners of the assets acquired in the marriage. The spouses’ contributions, labour spent on housework or care of the children were not seen as significant labour in the division of property. On divorce, women’s rights were generally violated and their financial position weakened. The new provision, by providing for equal sharing of assets acquired during the marriage, ensured gender equality and aimed to protect the rights of both parties in the divorce process.

So how will this provision be applied? Which assets does it cover, and for marriages concluded on which dates? Under the law that entered into force on 1 January 2002, marriages before and after that date must be assessed separately.

According to Article 202 of the Turkish Civil Code: “The participation in acquired property regime applies between spouses as the rule.” If the spouses have not specifically chosen a property regime between themselves, they are subject to the statutory property regime, the participation in acquired property regime. For individuals married before 1 January 2002, the liquidation of their property on divorce is assessed separately for before and after 2002. That is, on divorce, the liquidation of property of individuals married before 2002 is subject, for assets between the date of marriage and 1 January 2002, to the separation of property regime, which was the statutory regime at that time. Accordingly, only a claim for contribution share arises; for assets acquired between 1 January 2002 and the date the divorce becomes final, the Civil Code takes equal sharing as its basis. The participation in acquired property regime has been adopted as the statutory property regime, and a claim for a participation share can be made.

In conclusion, even if the assets the spouses acquired during the marriage are registered in the name of only one spouse, the aggrieved party has a participation claim, arising from the provisions on the participation in acquired property regime regulated in Article 218 et seq. of the Turkish Civil Code, to half of the value, at the date of the decision, of the assets acquired between 1 January 2002 and the date the divorce becomes final. For assets acquired between the date of marriage and before 1 January 2002, the rule is that they belong to the title holder, because separation of property was the statutory regime at that time. However, for the assets of that period too, the other spouse can claim a contribution share by proving their contribution to the acquired assets.