Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi

Abstract

Upon the death of the legator, the inheritance is transferred to the heirs as a whole and the heirs have joint ownership over the inheritance in accordance with the law. In the inheritance partnership, the heirs are required to take joint decisions unanimously in the management, representation and disposition of the inheritance. However, the requirement for the heirs to act together may hinder the functioning of the inheritance partnership. For this reason, in order to overcome the difficulties caused by the principle of joint action, the Law authorizes each heir to request the appointment of a representative of the inheritance partnership. However, in urgent cases where the inheritance must be protected, since the coming together of the heirs or the appointment of a representative of the inheritance partnership may cause loss of rights, the Law exceptionally authorizes each heir to act alone on behalf of the partnership. Since the authority of the heirs to act alone is an exception to the principle of acting together, it is interpreted narrowly in practice. Since the strict application of the principle of joint action may render the inheritance partnership unable to act, different legal systems allow decisions to be taken by majority of votes for the ordinary administration of the estate, as in the case of shared ownership. Likewise, the scope of the urgent cases, which authorizes acting alone in cases where the inheritance needs to be protected, should not be interpreted narrowly enough to cause the loss of the right.