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Does the Loan and Credit Card Debt of the Deceased Person Be Passed to the Heirs?
Life Insurance, Rejection of Inheritance and Bank Follow-up. The liability of the heirs has been updated as of 2026 within the framework of Turkish Civil Code Art. 599-628, Execution and Bankruptcy Law Art. 53 and the Supreme Court's jurisprudence regarding credit life insurance.
Debt notifications from banks in the first weeks after the loss of a relative often catch heirs off guard. The deceased person's loan and credit card debts are not automatically erased; It is included in the estate and passes to the heirs who do not reject the inheritance. However, in cases where credit life insurance is available, the bank must first apply to the insurance company; In case of an indebted estate, the heirs have strong protection methods such as three-month right of rejection, indefinite rejection possibility and keeping official books. The guide explains the scope of the heirs' liability, the effect of insurance on the debt, how the rejection period works, the transactions that reduce the right of rejection, and the moment when the bank can initiate proceedings against the heirs.
The heirs acquire the estate as a whole upon the death of the testator; Debts pass to the heirs along with the assets (TMK article 599). This includes loans, credit cards, overdraft accounts and other debts at the bank. Heirs who do not reject the inheritance are responsible for the estate debts not only in proportion to their inheritance shares, but also with their personal assets and severally; This succession continues for five years after the sharing (TMK article 681).
Therefore, acceptance of the inheritance is a decision that should be made after fully knowing the debts and assets of the deceased. Heirs can request a debt statement and insurance policy information, if any, by making a written application to banks and card issuers with their inheritance certificate. If the situation is unclear, the assets and liabilities of the estate can be officially determined by requesting the civil court of peace to keep an official book (TMK articles 619-620).
2. If there is credit life insurance, who can ask for the loan?
In most consumer loans, a life insurance policy is made, the beneficiary of which is the bank, while the loan is being used. According to the established jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, in this case, the bank must first collect its receivables within the policy limit from the insurance company. This is a prerequisite for the bank to be able to file a lawsuit or pursue proceedings against the heirs; The bank can only request from the heirs for the balance exceeding the policy limit (3rd HD, 25.10.2023, E.2023/1080, K.2023/2907).
In practice, insurance companies can avoid payment by claiming that the deceased did not declare an illness when the policy was issued. The Supreme Court emphasized that the insurance was made to guarantee the loan at the request of the bank and that the insurance company itself was the issuer of the policy, and accepted that the insurer could not raise this defense against the beneficiary bank. It is against the rule of honesty for the bank to directly approach the heirs when it has an easy collection opportunity such as a bill of exchange (3. HD, 30.10.2024, E.2023/5398, K.2024/3379). In cases where the policy has expired and has not been renewed, it should also be examined whether the bank has fulfilled its renewal obligation.
For credit card debts, there is often a separate "card debt insurance" or no insurance at all. For this reason, heirs should ask the bank in writing whether there is a separate policy for each loan and card.
denial of inheritance Declaration to the civil court of peace within 3 months after learning of the death (TMK article 606). The heir neither receives the asset nor is responsible for the debt.
Default rejection (detection of insolvency) The estate must be in debt on the date of death; It is not dependent on time (TMK article 605/2) Inheritance is deemed rejected
Keeping official books It is requested from the judge of peace within one month (TMK article 619). In acceptance according to the book, the heir is only responsible for the debts written in the book (TMK article 628).
Acceptance Not making a declaration of rejection within the period or seizing the estate (TMK article 610) Personal and several liability for all debts
The three-month period may be extended by the judge of peace in case of justified reasons (TMK article 615). In the case of default rejection, the Supreme Court accepts that the request is not subject to time and that the estate will be evaluated according to its assets and liabilities on the date of death (14th HD, 15.10.2020, E.2016/16104, K.2020/6246). However, in both cases, the heir must not have touched the estate.
Before the rejection period expires, the heir who interferes with the estate transactions as an heir, does things that exceed the ordinary management, hides the estate assets or appropriates them for himself, can no longer reject the inheritance (TMK article 610/2). Withdrawing the money from the deceased person's bank account, selling his vehicle or registering it in his name, transferring the stocks of the business or collecting his receivables are the most common transactions that cause loss of right of refusal in practice. As a rule, mandatory transactions for covering funeral expenses and protecting estate assets are not within this scope.
How Does One Heir's Rejection Affect Others?
If one of the legal heirs rejects the inheritance, his share passes to the rightful owners as if he had died before the testator (TMK article 611). For example, the children of the child who made a rejection declaration may become heirs and face debt. If all the closest legal heirs reject the inheritance, the estate is liquidated by the court of peace in accordance with the bankruptcy provisions (TMK article 612). For this reason, in insolvent estates, the rejection decision must be made jointly and simultaneously within the family. The procedure for rejection of inheritance is discussed in a separate guide in the Inheritance Law series of Küheylan Law Firm.
4. When Can the Bank Start Pursuing the Heirs?
Inheritance debts cannot be followed up for three days, including the day of death; If the heirs have not accepted or rejected the inheritance, the pursuit stops until the rejection periods in the Civil Code expire (EBL article 53/1). If there is a legal proceeding that has already started against the deceased debtor and the estate has not been shared and has not been subjected to official liquidation, the pursuit continues against the estate; It can only be maintained against the heirs by converting the pledge into cash or by seizing it (EBL art. 53/2-3).
If the bank decides to remove the objection and the heir claims that the estate is in debt, the enforcement court gives the heir an appropriate period of time to submit a judgment on this issue (Executive Law Article 68/4). This opportunity gives time to file a rejection lawsuit.
Does He Who Rejects Inheritance Pay Nothing?
As a rule, yes. However, heirs who reject the inheritance of a decedent who is incapable of paying may be held liable to creditors to the extent of the value they received from the decedent in the five years before the death and which they will be obliged to return in sharing. Ordinary education expenses and customary dowry are excluded from this scope (TMK article 618).
H.D. passed away in 2025. Six weeks after his death, his remaining wife and two children received a payment request from the bank for a mortgage loan balance of 1,150,000 TL and a debt of 185,000 TL in total from two credit cards. Although there was life insurance attached to the mortgage loan, the insurance company did not make payment on the grounds that the decedent did not disclose his heart disease when the policy was issued; The bank sent a warning to the heirs.
The heirs received legal support during the rejection period without taking control of the estate. In the response sent to the bank, it was stated, together with the Supreme Court jurisprudence, that the loan receivable within the policy limit must first be collected from the insurance company and that the insurer cannot claim lack of notification against the beneficiary bank. The bank took legal action against the insurance company and the mortgage loan balance was paid off with insurance compensation. Since the card debts were uninsured, they were compared with the assets of the estate; Since the value of the mortgage-free house clearly exceeded the debts, the heirs accepted the inheritance and paid the card debt from the estate income.
Does the deceased person's credit card debt pass on to his or her heirs?
Yes. Card debt is an estate debt and passes to the heirs who do not reject the inheritance. In order to close the card, the bank must be notified with a death certificate, and it must also be asked whether there is card debt insurance.
What happens to the person who acts as guarantor for the deceased person's loan?
The death of the principal debtor does not terminate the guarantee; Since the debt continues to exist in the estate, the guarantor's liability continues. The guarantor who pays the debt may have recourse to the heirs who accept the inheritance.
Is it possible to get rid of the debt-ridden inheritance if three months have passed?
If the estate was clearly in debt on the date of death and the heir did not take possession of the estate, a default rejection lawsuit can be filed regardless of the time limit. Additionally, if there are important reasons, the judge of peace may be asked to extend the rejection period.
Can the bank offset the money in the deceased person's account against the debt?
This depends on the pledge and settlement provisions in the account and loan agreements, the nature of the account and whether the debt is due or not. It should be noted that the heirs should not withdraw money from the account at this stage, otherwise they may lose their right of refusal.
Withdrawing money from the account: Withdrawing money from the deceased person's account or transferring property such as a vehicle may be considered as confiscation of the estate and may reduce the right of refusal.
Not questioning the insurance: For debts with credit life insurance, the bank must first apply for insurance; The existence of the policy must be requested in writing.
Waiting for three months: The period may expire while debt and asset determination is ongoing; If necessary, a time extension or official book should be requested.
Making the rejection alone: The rejection of an heir may lead to the share passing to other people in the family, such as grandchildren.
Not responding to the bank's warning in a timely manner: Objections to insurance coverage and rejection period should be clearly stated in the first correspondence.
Bank debts of a deceased relative can create a heavy burden for heirs, both legally and emotionally. However, the priority of credit life insurance, the preservation of the rejection period, the indefinite period of the default rejection case and the official book opportunity are powerful tools that, when used at the right time, save the heirs from an unfair debt burden. Küheylan Law Firm offers a process management that secures the legal position of the heirs from the first day, from the determination of the assets and liabilities of the estate to the correspondence with the insurance company and the bank, from the denial of inheritance and default rejection cases to the objection to enforcement proceedings initiated against the heirs.
Important Legal Notice: The legal explanations, tables and case studies in this guide have been prepared by Küheylan Law Firm for general information purposes based on the legislation and judicial decisions in force as of 2026 and do not constitute legal advice. Since contract provisions, notification dates and periods directly determine the outcome in banking and finance disputes, it is recommended that each concrete case be evaluated separately by a lawyer. © 2026 Küheylan Law Firm. All rights reserved.
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