Protections for the Portion Reserved Against Marital Property Agreements and an Evaluation of the Amendments Relevant to the Swiss Civil Code
According to Paragraph 1 from Article 202 of the Turkish Civil Code (TCC), the shared re-gime in acquired property is essential. However, spouses may accept one of the types of marital property regimes legally regulated through a marital property agreement, or they may make changes to the provisions of these limited number of regimes. In this case, the issue comes to the fore of whether priority should be given to the marital property agreement or to protecting the reserved portion. The basic principle accepted by Turkish legislation is that any marital property agreement concluded between spouses takes precedence over the interests of heirs with a reserved share. While Section II under Article 237 of the TCC protects the reserved share of non-common children and their descendants against marital property agreements in which a different principle regarding the shares of the residual value have been accepted, Section III under Article 276 of the TCC protects the offspring family’s reserved shares against property regime agreements regarding any other manner of distributing a partnership property. Both provisions have been criticized doctrinally on the grounds that they disrupt equality among heirs with reserved shares. On the other hand, a revision was made in the field of inheritance law in Switzerland, and these provisions entered into force on January 1, 2023. The revision amends and supplements part of the provisions included in Article 216 and 241 of the Swiss Civil Code (SCC). In light of these changes, the need has arisen to reconsider the issue.
Mal Rejimi Sözleşmelerine Karşı Saklı Payın Korunması ve İsviçre Medenî Kanunu’nda Yapılan İlgili Değişikliklerin Değerlendirilmesi
Türk Medenî Kanunu’nun 202’nci maddesinin birinci fıkrasına göre, eşler arasında edinilmiş mallara katılma rejiminin uygulanması asıldır. Ne var ki, eşler evlenmeden önce veya sonra yapacakları bir mal rejimi sözleşmesiyle kanunda düzenlenen mal rejimi türlerinden birisini kabul edebilecekleri gibi, sınırlı sayıdaki bu rejimlerin hükümlerinde kanunun izin verdiği ölçüde değişiklikler de yapabilirler (TMK m 203). Yapılan mal rejimi sözleşmelerinin terekenin belirlenmesine, dolayısıyla da mirasçıların miras ve saklı paylarına, ciddi orada etkisi bulunmaktadır. Bu durumda, mal rejimi sözleşmesine mi yoksa saklı payın korunmasına mı öncelik verilmesi gerektiği gündeme gelmektedir. Türk kanun koyucusunun kabul ettiği temel ilke, eşler arasında akdedilen mal rejimi sözleşmelerinin saklı paylı mirasçıların menfaatlerinden önce gelmesidir. Temel ilke bu olmakla birlikte, iki istisnai hâlde (TMK m 237/II ve TMK m 276/III), mal rejimi sözleşmelerinin bazı mirasçıların saklı payını zedeleyemeyeceği öngörülmüştür. TMK m 237/II hükmünde artık değere katılmaya ilişkin farklı bir esasın kabul edildiği mal rejimi sözleşmelerine karşı ortak olmayan çocukların ve onların altsoylarının saklı payları koruma altına alınmışken; TMK m 276/III hükmünde ortaklık mallarının farklı bir biçimde paylaşılmasına ilişkin mal rejimi sözleşmelerine karşı altsoyun saklı payı koruma altına alınmıştır. Her iki hüküm de saklı paylı mirasçılar arasında eşitliği bozduğu gerekçesiyle öğretide eleştirilmektedir. Öte yandan, İsviçre’de miras hukuku alanında bir revizyon yapılmış olup, bu hükümler 1 Ocak 2023 tarihinde yürürlüğe girmiştir. Revizyon kapsamında değişiklik ve ek yapılan hükümler arasında ZGB Art 216 ve ZGB Art 241 hükümleri de bulunmaktadır. Bunlardan ZGB Art 216 hükmü, TMK m 237 hükmüne; ZGB Art 241 hükmü ise, TMK m 276 hükmüne karşılık gelmektedir. Bu değişiklikler ışığında konunun yeniden ele alınması zarureti doğmuştur.
According to the Turkish Civil Code (TCC), a shared regime regarding acquired property is valid between spouses. However, spouses may also choose a different marital property regime regulated by law or make changes to the provisions of these regimes. The death of a spouse is one reason for terminating any type of marital property regime. In this case, the marital property regime that had been valid between spouses must be liquidated. Under Turkish Law, the surviving spouse can receive both the shared claim arising from the liquidation of the property regime as well as the inheritance right regarding the estate, which includes the remaining portion of the residual value in accordance with the characteristics of a tangible case. This is because the idea that the division of a property should be made only according to the provisions of the inheritance law in the event of the dissolution of a marriage by death is not accepted under Turkish Law. Therefore, both the choice of a different marital property regime and an amendment of the provisions of the existing marital property regime may affect the estate and thus the shares reserved for the heirs.
The basic principle accepted by Turkish legislation is that marital property agreements concluded between spouses take precedence over the interests of heirs with reserved shares. Although this is the basic principle, two exceptional cases in Section II from Article 237 of the TCC and Section III of Article 276 of the TCC stipulate that marital property agreements must not adversely affect the reserved shares of specific heirs. Both provisions have been doctrinally criticized on the grounds that they disrupt the equality among heirs with reserved shares.
Due to Swiss legislation having abolished parents’ reserved shares, the criticism that no discrimination must occur among heirs with reserved shares became unfounded under Section III of Article 241 of the Swiss Civil Code (SCC) and related to Section III in Article 276 of the TCC. Within the scope of the revision, a new paragraph was added to Article 241 of the SCC, and this paragraph regulates that agreements on a different method of division do not apply in the case of the death of a spouse when divorce proceedings are pending that would result in the surviving spouse losing their right to claim the statutory entitlement.
On the other hand, the amendment to Article 216 of the SCC is incapable of finalizing any discussions doctrinally. The Draft Law stipulates an increase in the surviving spouse’s share claim arising from a marital property agreement should be added to the hypothetical estate while calculating the reserved shares. Accordingly, the reserved shares of both the common and non-common children are to also be calculated over the same estate. However, legislation makes a distinction again in terms of the possibility of filing an action in abatement for children who are unable to obtain their reserved shares. This amendment could be stated to be fairer compared to the previous situation but to also still be inadequate compared to de lege ferenda. However, during the enactment of the provision, an amendment was made at the last moment that accepted a contribution of more than half of the residual value to not be added to the estate when calculating the reserved shares for the surviving spouse, common children, and their descendants. According to this final version of the provision, which is currently in force, the reserved shares are to be calculated over two different estates.
Moreover, legislation regarding Article 532 of the SCC counts an increase in the shares claim among inter vivos legal transactions and subjects it to abatement in the first place among the other inter vivos legal transactions. This situation is consistent with other legal regulations. On the other hand, recognizing the right to file an action in abatement against this acquisition for only certain persons would not be proper. While granting the right to file an action in abatement to non-common children against the same legal transaction, to deny this opportunity to one spouse’s children would be inequitable. In order to protect the non-common children against their parents and the other spouse, increasing the percentage of their reserved share by making a somewhat positive discrimination would be more appropriate.