Legal Guide: Your Rights in Divorce, Criminal, Labor, and Real Estate Lawsuits

Legal processes are complex, technical periods that anyone can encounter in the course of life. Correct interpretation of laws, complete compliance with procedural rules, and prevention of loss of rights are only possible with professional legal consultancy and advocacy services. In this comprehensive guide, we discuss the most sought-after legal processes in detail, especially family law and divorce lawsuits, as well as criminal, labor, real estate, and enforcement law.

1. Family Law and Divorce Lawsuits Consultancy

Family law is a dynamic field that protects the family, the smallest building block of society, but also secures the rights of the parties in case of dispute. The divorce lawsuit consultancy we offer aims to ensure that this wearing process is overcome with the least damage.

What are the Grounds for Divorce According to the Civil Code?

In order for a divorce lawsuit to be filed and accepted by the court, it must be based on a legal justification. Grounds for divorce are examined under two main headings: general and specific:

• Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage (General Ground): Commonly known as severe incompatibility, it is the situation where it cannot be expected from the spouses to maintain a common life. Continuous arguments, insults, indifference, and trust-shaking behaviors fall under this scope.
• Adultery (Specific Ground): This is when one of the spouses engages in a sexual relationship with someone else while the marriage continues. It is an absolute ground for divorce, and the lawsuit must be filed within 6 months from the date the adultery is discovered.
• Intent on Life, Extremely Bad or Insulting Behavior (Specific Ground): This refers to the situation where a spouse acts with the intention of killing the other spouse, inflicts severe physical violence, or severely damages their honor in public.
• Committing a Crime and Leading a Dishonorable Life (Specific Ground): It is the adoption of a dishonorable lifestyle such as gambling or prostitution, or committing a humiliating crime by one of the spouses.
• Desertion / Abandonment (Specific Ground): This occurs when one of the spouses leaves the common home without a justified reason in order to avoid marital obligations and does not return for at least 6 months. A formal legal warning requirement applies.
• Mental Illness (Specific Ground): This is when one of the spouses develops an incurable mental illness and this situation makes the common life unbearable for the other spouse. It must be proven by an official medical board report.

What is an Uncontested Divorce? What are the Conditions?

It is a type of lawsuit filed when the spouses reach a full consensus on all financial results of the divorce and the status of the children. In order to file an uncontested divorce lawsuit, the following conditions must be met together:

1. The marriage must have lasted for at least 1 year,
2. The spouses must apply to the court together, or one spouse must accept the lawsuit filed by the other,
3. The judge must listen to the parties in person and be convinced that their wills are declared freely,
4. The prepared uncontested divorce protocol (articles on custody, alimony, compensation, and property division) must be approved by the judge.

Why Do Contested Divorce Lawsuits Take Long?

When the parties cannot reach an agreement on issues such as divorce, custody, amount of compensation, or property division, a contested divorce lawsuit takes place. Since these lawsuits require allegations to be proven with witnesses, message logs, bank statements, or expert examinations, they can take between 1.5 and 3 years.

Alimony and Custody Criteria in Divorce

The most disputed issues in the court process are the future of the children and financial balances:

Custody: The judge considers the best interest of the child rather than the financial status of the mother or father. The child's age, education, health, and habitual environment are the main factors. Children over a certain age are asked for their preference in court.

Types of Alimony: There are 3 basic types of alimony that can be legally claimed during the divorce process:

• Temporary Alimony (Tedbir Nafakası): Temporary alimony granted for the spouse and children in need from the filing of the lawsuit until the end of the process.
• Poverty Alimony (Yoksulluk Nafakası): Alimony paid indefinitely (or until remarriage) to the party who will fall into poverty due to divorce and whose fault is not heavier than the other spouse.
• Affiliation Alimony (İştirak Nafakası): The financial contribution made by the spouse who is not granted custody, in proportion to their financial power, to the care and education expenses of the child.

2. Criminal Law: Protection of Defendant and Victim Rights

Criminal law is a branch of law that is directly related to the freedom of individuals and the public order of the state, and does not accept mistakes. Every step from the investigation phase (police and prosecutor statements) to the prosecution phase (court trial) must be followed meticulously.

While Heavy Criminal Courts deal with crimes with an upper limit of imprisonment of more than 10 years (intentional killing, qualified fraud, robbery, etc.), Criminal Courts of First Instance try crimes requiring a lower limit of imprisonment (injury, theft, insult, threat, etc.). Failure to provide a professional defense in criminal cases can lead to irreversible consequences binding freedom (imprisonment).

3. Labor Law: Regulation of Employee and Employer Relations

Disputes between employees and employers form the basis of labor law. In our country, it is a legal obligation to apply to the mediation process before trial in labor lawsuits. The most common types of lawsuits filed in the field of labor law are:

• Severance and Notice Indemnity Lawsuits: These are severance pay rights deserved by an employee who has worked for at least 1 year when dismissed without a justified reason, and compensation rights arising from non-compliance with notice periods.
• Reinstatement Lawsuit: In workplaces employing 30 or more workers, it is a protective type of lawsuit that must be filed by the employee whose employment contract is terminated without a valid reason within 1 month from the termination.
• Overtime and Wage Receivables: These are lawsuits in which the employee's unpaid overtime, weekend holiday, public holiday wages, and annual leave receivables are calculated and claimed.

4. Real Estate, Expropriation, and Inheritance Law

Real estate property law is an area with high economic value and highly technical legislation. The main dispute issues are:

• Deed Cancellation and Registration Lawsuits: Filed for the purpose of correcting faulty title deed records arising from irregular transactions, forgery, collusion of the inherited (collusion to smuggle property from inheritance), or zoning practices.
• Dissolution of Partnership (İzaleyi Şuyu) Lawsuits: It is the process of selling an inherited property or a property subject to shared ownership through the court and distributing its price among the shareholders when they cannot agree on sharing.
• Determination of Expropriation Value: These are lawsuits filed in order to register the real value of the real estate and to prevent the victimization of the property owner in case the state seizes a property belonging to an individual due to public interest justification.

5. Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law: Debt Collection

Enforcement offices step in when debts arising from commercial life or personal relationships are not paid on time. Enforcement and bankruptcy law ensures that the creditor reaches their right in the fastest way, while protecting the legal rights of the debtor (assets that cannot be seized, objection to unfair enforcement, etc.). Time management determines the fate of the case in enforcement law, where periods are very short (for example, the objection period to enforcement proceedings without judgment is 7 days).

6. Advantages of Working with a Professional Attorney and Law Firm

Being right is not enough to win a lawsuit on its own. Our legal system has a **formal and time-based** procedural structure. Failure to submit a petition on time in a justified lawsuit, failure to present evidence properly, or filing a lawsuit in the wrong court leads to the rejection of the lawsuit without even entering its merits.

Remember: In law, "procedure comes before substance." Taking the right legal steps at the right time protects your rights, saves you from financial damage and unnecessary loss of time.

Whether it is a complex contested divorce lawsuit, a commercial receivable enforcement, or a criminal trial; we manage your processes with a professional, transparent, and solution-oriented approach. To get detailed information about your rights and to create a legal consultancy appointment, you can contact us immediately through our Contact Page.