Constitutional Court rejects challenge: 1-year requirement for uncontested divorce cases

The Constitutional Court (AYM) has rejected a request to annul a provision of the Turkish Civil Code that requires a marriage to have lasted at least one year for uncontested divorce cases.

The Ankara 18th Family Court had applied to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the provision in the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, which stipulates that "the marital union must have lasted at least 1 year to file for divorce" in cases filed for uncontested divorce.

In the application petition requesting the annulment of the phrase "... one year ..." in the first sentence of the third paragraph of Article 166 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, it was argued that the rule disregards the will of individuals, excessively complicates the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms and the implementation of the principle of equality, and keeps a marriage that has effectively ended by the parties legally valid for a certain period. It was stated that this situation forces parties to resort to different procedures and endure long judicial processes to file for divorce in cases where the one-year period has not yet expired.

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS CHALLENGE

The Constitutional Court rejected the request for the annulment of the regulation.

In its reasoning, the court stated that making the validity of the presumption that the marital union has been shaken to its foundations—despite the spouses' mutual intent—conditional upon one year having passed since the marriage falls within the discretionary power of the legislature.

Noting that the shaking of the marital union to its foundations is regulated as one of the grounds for divorce in Article 166 of Law No. 4721, the reasoning included the following findings:

"It is understood that the legislature does not desire for spouses to make such a decision and file for divorce without a certain period of time passing since the marriage, in order to keep the institution of the family alive as much as possible. It is clear that such a delaying effect provides spouses with the opportunity to re-evaluate their decisions. While it is possible for spouses to divorce through this procedure if the marriage has lasted at least one year, there is also no obstacle to them filing for divorce based on other grounds for divorce regulated in the aforementioned Law."

In its reasoning, the High Court emphasized that, in this respect, the limitation imposed on the right of individuals to request respect for their private and family life does not impose a disproportionate burden on individuals and is proportionate.

News Source: AA