Article 166, Paragraph 3 of the Turkish Civil Code stipulates the following conditions for a divorce by mutual consent:
a) The marriage must have lasted at least one year.
If the marriage has lasted less than one year, the parties cannot divorce by mutual consent. The marriage must have lasted at least one year as of the date the case is filed. Otherwise, the case will be dismissed. In this case, the parties may divorce based on other grounds for divorce, such as the main type of divorce case based on the reason of severe incompatibility, which is the breakdown of the marriage.
b) Both spouses applying to the court together or one spouse accepting the other’s lawsuit;
The spouses will apply to the court with a jointly signed petition, or the other party will clearly state in court that they want a divorce by mutual consent in response to the lawsuit filed by one of them.
c) The judge personally hearing the parties and being satisfied that their intentions are freely expressed;
Even if both parties have separate or joint attorneys, the spouses must personally participate in the divorce by mutual consent case and express their desire and will for divorce by mutual consent at the hearing.
d) The parties must agree on an arrangement (Protocol) regarding the financial consequences of the divorce and the situation of the children, and the judge must also find the arrangement appropriate.
The financial consequences of divorce refer to matters such as compensation and alimony. The parties must reach an agreement on these matters. In addition, the parties must also agree on the custody of the children, if any. The judge must also find this agreement appropriate. The judge may make any changes deemed necessary in this agreement, taking into account the interests of the parties and the children. If the parties accept these changes, the divorce is granted.
In practice, the parties prepare a divorce agreement protocol and submit it to the divorce file. If no protocol is prepared, the divorce may be granted by recording the agreed-upon matters in the minutes.
CONCLUSION:
If all of the above conditions are met, the marriage is deemed to have been fundamentally shaken, and the court may grant the divorce without seeking further evidence or determining who is at fault.