How Is a Divorce Action Brought?

In short

A divorce action is brought before the competent family court with a petition and annexes; there is no promise of a single hearing or of a period.

It is brought with the petition, the annexes and the allocation. There is no marketing sentence of a single hearing.

The calculation of the period is in a separate article.

The wrong court produces an objection to jurisdiction; the address in Çankaya does not lock every file.

Related articles: how long a divorce takes.

What should be done first to bring a divorce action?

A divorce action is brought by submitting a petition of the action in accordance with the procedure to the competent court, and by completing the necessary fee and expense transactions. The correct first step is not to fill in a ready sample petition, but to determine whether the divorce will be uncontested or contested, which legal ground will be relied on, and which requests exist about the children and about the financial results. The content of the petition can affect the limits of the later trial.

If there is an event that threatens safety, it is not necessary to wait for the preparation of the action to be completed. The police, the public prosecutor's office, the family court and the protective mechanisms within the scope of Law No. 6284 can be used according to the feature of the event. In files where there is no risk to safety, the preservation of the important documents, the drawing of the table of income and expense, and the recording of the children's existing order of care provide an orderly start.

This guide offers general information. Which ground will be chosen, the scope of the requests and the periods should be checked separately according to the concrete event and the current legislation.

Uncontested or contested: determining the kind of action

If the spouses have a full agreement on the divorce and on the results, an uncontested divorce can come onto the agenda under the statutory conditions, including the duration of the marriage. In the protocol, custody, personal contact with the child, maintenance, compensation and the financial matters that were agreed should be written openly. One of the parties only accepting the divorce is not sufficient by itself if there is no agreement on the results. The conditions of an uncontested divorce go into the conditions of the protocol and of the will.

If there is no joint will, or if the headings of fault, custody, maintenance, compensation or assets are debated, a contested action is brought. The claimant relies on certain events and on a ground of divorce; the defendant can make a defence and a counter-request. Building the scope of the contested action correctly determines not only the time, but also which evidence will be examined.

The uncontested path is not always easy, and the contested path is not always wrong. A trial in which the rights are debated openly can be more suitable than a protocol that would be signed under pressure. Leaving headings that were really resolved as contested, only in order to continue the conflict, can also increase the burden on the parties and on the children.

How should the ground of divorce and the narration of the events be built?

The Turkish Civil Code regulates the general and the special grounds of divorce. The marital union being shaken from its foundation is a general ground often seen in practice. Adultery, an attempt on life and very bad or honour-breaking conduct, the commission of an offence and the leading of a dishonourable life, abandonment, and mental illness are special grounds whose conditions differ. The subject of proof of each ground, and in some cases the condition of time, can differ.

Writing the legal heading in the petition is not sufficient by itself. Result sentences such as violence was applied, there was no interest, or my trust was shaken should be explained, if possible, with the time, the place, the parties and the effect of the event. Unnecessary language of insult or of diagnosis should not be used. The aim is not to disparage the other side, but to present the facts that affect the common life with a clarity the court can examine.

This method can be followed in the narration of the events:

• Determining the basic dates of the marriage and of the common life
• Putting the events that led to the dispute in chronological order
• Explaining the connection of each event with the ground of divorce
• Writing, against each fact, the evidence that exists or that will be asked to be brought
• Showing separately the effects on the children and on the financial results
• Making clear the points that require an urgent measure

It should not be thought that facts not put forward at the stage of the petition can be added later without limit. A concrete and orderly balance should therefore be established between a short but incomplete text and a long but scattered narration.

How are the competent court and the court of jurisdiction found?

In divorce actions the competent court is the family court. In a place where a family court has not been established, the designated civil court of first instance can serve in the capacity of a family court. Competence expresses which judicial work the court will see as regards the kind of dispute; it cannot be changed by the parties' agreement.

Jurisdiction determines where, geographically, the action will be brought. As regards divorce, the court of the place of settlement of one of the spouses, or of the place where the spouses last lived together for six months before the action, is among the statutory connections. Temporary accommodation, the workplace address and the place of settlement are not the same concept. If the address changed often after the separation in particular, the records and the actual life should be examined carefully.

The file of a person who lives in Çankaya can be connected with the judicial circuit of Ankara; merely working in the district does not establish jurisdiction automatically, however. Bringing the action in the wrong place can create a delay because of the objection and the sending. If there are elements such as a foreign spouse, a settlement abroad or a decision of a foreign court, international jurisdiction and notification are taken up separately.

Which particulars take place in the petition of the action?

In a petition in accordance with the procedure, the name of the court, the parties' identity and address particulars, the subject of the action, the facts, the legal basis, the evidence and the requests for the result take place openly. The section of the request should not be left consisting only of the sentence let it be decided that we divorce. Requests for custody, for personal contact, for interim and continuing maintenance and for pecuniary and non-pecuniary compensation should be built separately if their conditions exist.

As regards the children, the existing order of life, who conducts the daily care, and the needs of school and of health should be explained. The determinative criterion for the court is the child's best interest, not the parent's wish. In a request for maintenance, the kind, the need, the parties' known incomes and the expenses should be made concrete. The kinds of maintenance explain the different functions of interim maintenance, of post-divorce maintenance and of child maintenance.

The subject of the division of property should also be separated carefully. The ancillary results of the divorce and the liquidation of the property regime do not always conclude in the same procedure and at the same time. The family home, the jewellery, the personal goods, the immovable or the requests for a joint debt do not each have the same legal character. A general request in the petition for half of all the property may not take the place of the separate examination that is required.

What are the necessary documents and the evidence?

There is no single unchanging package of documents for every divorce file. Although the identity and the civil-registry particulars can be brought through the system, the parties need to be identified correctly. In an uncontested action the protocol is the basic document. In a contested action the document is chosen according to the events that are claimed.

These sources can be assessed in the opening file:

• The marriage booklet, if there is one, and the current address particulars
• The protocol assessed by both parties in an uncontested divorce
• The income payroll, the rent, the loan and the records of regular expenses
• The documents of the children's school, health and care expenses
• Lawful messages, e-mails or other digital records
• The records of an application to the hospital, the police, the public prosecutor's office or the social service
• The list of witnesses, and a short explanation of the events the witnesses could see
• If the protection of the assets is asked for, the relevant land-registry, vehicle or account particulars

If a document cannot be accessed, it can be requested that the court have it brought from the relevant institution. Which record is at which institution, and what it will prove, should be explained, however. Seizing records that contain personal data without authority, or entering the other side's account without permission, is not the gathering of evidence in conformity with the law. Such a method can give birth to a separate liability, beside the risk that it cannot be used in the file.

How is a divorce action brought, step by step?

The application and the start of the trial generally consist of these stages:

• The kind of action and the ground are chosen. The uncontested or the contested path, the ground of divorce and the connected requests are determined.
• Competence and jurisdiction are checked. The correct court is established over the records of settlement and the particulars of the last common dwelling.
• The plan of evidence is prepared with the petition. The facts, the evidence and the requests for the result are matched with each other.
• The application is made. The petition is submitted to the allocation unit at the competent courthouse, or in accordance with the current electronic procedure.
• The transactions of the fee and of the advance of expenses are completed. Because the amounts can change according to the year of the application and the requests, the current tariff is taken as the basis; legal aid can be asked for if its conditions exist.
• The file number and the notification are followed. A notification in accordance with the procedure to the other side is important for the stage of the petitions to start.
• The requests for an interim measure are assessed. Urgent needs as regards shelter, subsistence, the child or the assets are submitted with their documents.
• The stage of the petitions and of the preliminary examination is passed to. The defendant's answer, the possibility of a counter-action and the headings of the dispute are taken up by the court.

It should not be expected that every piece of evidence will be gathered, or that a hearing will be given at once, on the day the application is made. After the stage of notification and of the petitions is completed, the preliminary examination, and then the inquiry, run. The contested divorce process offers a detailed map of the path relating to the stages after the action is brought.

The fee, the advance of expenses and legal aid

In a divorce action, the application fee and the judgment fee, and expenses such as notification, a witness, an expert or an expert examination, can come onto the agenda. The amounts change according to the years, the kind of request and the transactions that will be made. In place of relying on an old total figure on the internet, the official tariff and the cashier's account on the date of the application should therefore be checked.

A person whose financial position is not suitable to meet the expenses of the trial can request legal aid if the statutory conditions exist. Documents can be expected to be submitted about the income, the assets, the persons one is obliged to look after and the regular expenses. The court's decision of legal aid and the legal-aid service directed to the bar's assignment of a lawyer are not the same transaction; for each there can be a separate condition and application.

An incomplete advance of expenses, or a transaction not made in time, can affect the progress of the file. The court's notifications should be followed, and interim decisions that contain a definite period should be read with particular care.

Interim measures that can be asked for when the action is brought

Until the divorce trial is completed, the parties' shelter, their subsistence and the children's care cannot be left uncertain. According to the conditions of the file, the court can assess interim maintenance, the child's interim order of care, personal contact, the use of the family home and the measures relating to the protection of the assets.

In a request for a measure, the urgency and the need should be explained. In place of I want maintenance, the rent, the basic expenses of life, the child's school and health expenses and the parties' known incomes can be submitted. In a request relating to the family home, the land-registry or lease relation and the existing order of use matter. If there is a risk of violence, decisions within the scope of Law No. 6284 can come onto the agenda separately from the divorce file, or in a way connected with it.

An interim decision does not guarantee the result of the action in advance. At the end of the trial a different order of custody, of maintenance or of the dwelling can be established with all the evidence that was gathered.

The process after the application, and mistakes often made

After the action is brought, the court examines the petition and the process of notification starts. The defendant can answer, and can bring a counter-action if the conditions exist. At the preliminary examination the areas of the dispute are determined; at the inquiry the witnesses are heard, the institutional records are gathered, and a social inquiry or an expert study can be made. After the final judgment, the stages of notification and of the remedy come onto the agenda.

The preparation mistakes often met are these:

• Using a petition taken from the internet without adapting it to the event
• Writing every debate and making the legally important events invisible
• Leaving the requests for custody, for maintenance or for compensation uncertain
• Obtaining a message or a sound recording by methods contrary to the law
• Not explaining which event the witnesses know
• Applying in the wrong court, or not notifying the current address
• Remaining indifferent to the periods the court gave and to the electronic notifications

Sharing the details of the action on social media can both harm the children's privacy and create new disputes. The communication of the file needs to be continued, as far as possible, in a way that is calm, limited and that observes the children's benefit.

A practical frame for those who will apply in Ankara

A person who will bring an action in Ankara should first verify the connection of jurisdiction. The current settlement in Çankaya, the spouse living in another city, or the last common dwelling being in a different place, can affect the options. The physical unit of the courthouse and the possibility of an electronic application should be checked according to the current judicial organisation; a transaction left to the last day by relying on an old address or unit information should not be made.

The court's volume can affect the date of the hearing, but it does not change the conditions of bringing the action or the rules of proof. An address suitable for notification, an orderly list of documents and open requests for a measure are the areas of preparation within the control of the person applying. On the general structure of the divorce connected with custody, with maintenance and with the assets, the family law page can be examined.

A last check before the application

Before submitting the petition, check whether the kind of the action, the ground, the events and the requests are in harmony with each other. The children's current order, the need for interim shelter and subsistence, the conformity of the evidence with the law, the correct court and the plan of expense should be reviewed as separate headings. Submitting an incomplete application only in order to act first can give birth to results that are hard to remedy later.

This content gives general information and does not take the place of a ready petition. The assessment of your divorce file together with its documents can help the procedural periods, the requests and the plan of evidence to be built according to the concrete conditions.

Where the petition of the action is read from

A lawyer in the family field reads the competent court from the record of settlement in the petition. A lawyer in the family field separates the uncontested path from the contested path. A lawyer in the family field does not think an interim request is a final judgment. An Ankara lawyer reads from the file that the office in Çankaya does not choose the competent family court.

Conclusion

This article is for general information. The document, the period and the procedure of the concrete event should be read separately; there is no promise of an outcome from memory.