Author: Ceren Eke
Introduction
Inheritance contracts are contracts involving a testamentary disposition concluded by the legator, with her inheritor or a third party.
A testamentary disposition is a legal transaction that includes the orders of the legator that she wishes to be carried out after her death. Testamentary disposition term is used in two senses; testamentary disposition in the substantive sense and testamentary disposition in the formal sense. While testamentary disposition in the formal sense refers to the requirements as to form that the legator must follow when expressing the orders that she wishes to be effective after death, testamentary disposition in the substantive sense refers to the content of testamentary dispositions in the formal sense, the desires expressed therein, the testamentary orders of the legator. According to the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 ("TCC"), there are a limited number of testamentary dispositions in the formal sense (numerus clausus). These are testament and inheritance contracts.
Whereas a testament is a unilateral declaration of will that does not need to be directed, an inheritance contract is a mutual declaration of will that needs to be directed. More clearly, an inheritance contract is, as its name suggests, a contract.
In this article, the differences between inheritance contract and testament, the types of inheritance contracts, the capacity to conclude a contract, the form requirements of the contract and its termination are explained.
