English-Speaking Lawyer in Muğla

Where to start, depending on your situation

• If someone close to you has been taken into custody

  Find out which police unit is holding them and which public prosecutor's office is running the investigation. A suspect has the right to meet a defence lawyer and that meeting is confidential; what matters is that it happens before a statement is taken.

• If you have received an official notification

  The date of service is the starting point for most time limits in Turkish law. Keep the envelope and anything showing the date. The first task is establishing which period has begun to run.

• Before you sign a contract

  This is the cheapest and most effective stage. Payment terms, the consequences of default and the grounds for termination are settled before signature, not afterwards.

• If a commercial debt is not being paid

  What the claim rests on and whether the debtor has been put in default are established first. In commercial actions for a sum of money, applying to a mediator is a condition of bringing the action.

• Before you buy property

  The title register and its declarations section, mortgages and attachments, zoning status and — for foreign buyers — the military zone enquiry should all be completed before any deposit is paid.

• If your employment has ended

  For a reinstatement claim, an application to a mediator must be made within one month of service of the termination notice. Monetary claims run on a separate and much longer clock.

• If your residence permit was refused or you have been served with a deportation decision

  A deportation decision must be challenged before the administrative court within seven days of service, and that court's ruling is final. Permit refusals are challenged by annulment action within the general time limit.

Preparing for the first consultation

How useful the first consultation is depends largely on what you are able to show me. The documents that help most, by type of matter, are these.

• Criminal matters

  Any notification you have received and the investigation number, a copy of the record if a statement has been taken, documents already submitted to the file, and correspondence relating to the allegation.

• Employment disputes

  The employment contract, payslips, the termination notice and anything showing its date of service, any request for a written defence, and the final mediation report if there is one.

• Property disputes

  A copy of the title register entry, any promise-to-sell agreement, proof of payments, the zoning status, the building permit and the management plan of the complex.

• Commercial disputes

  The contract and its annexes, invoices, delivery notes, the current account statement, formal notices, and any enforcement documents.

• Tenancy and debt disputes

  The lease, payment receipts, any notices served, proof of service, and — where enforcement proceedings have started — the payment order and any objection.

• Immigration matters

  Your passport, your current residence or work permit, the refusal or deportation decision issued by the authority, and anything showing the date it was served on you.