Testamentary capacity in Turkish Law

It is noteworthy to critically examine and discuss the concept of capacity in the context of testamentary disposition in terms of Turkish Law. The testator is required to have the capacity in order to execute the testamentary disposition. Otherwise, it may constitutea cause for the invalidity of the testamentary disposition as a matter of law. The testamentary disposition is twofold that are namely the testamentary in formal sense and the testamentary in material sense. The former refers to the way in which the testator expresses his/her last wishes. This could be done through either a will or an inheritance contract written out by himself/herself. The latterconstitutes the substance of the formal means of the testamentary disposition. A testator is required to be at least 15 years old and have the power of discernment. The legislator prescribes stringent conditions for the inheritance contracts compared to the will due to the binding nature of the inheritance contract on the parties. Accordingly, in order for a testator to conclude an inheritance contract, he/she must have full legal capacity. In a situation where a testator does not have the capacity required by the law, the testamentary disposition could be subject to the sanction of invalidity.