Turkey to End Indefinite Alimony in New Judicial Reform Package

The Turkish Justice Ministry's 12th Judicial Package will abolish the practice of indefinite alimony. Under the draft law, alimony payments will have a minimum term of five years, and for long marriages judges will have discretion to set the duration based on half of the marriage length – for example, a 20‑year marriage could result in a ten‑year payment.

The reform also treats prolonged separation of spouses as a valid ground for divorce, limits the interval between court hearings to three months (requiring a written justification if exceeded), and removes the judge’s ability to refer complex legal questions to expert witnesses. Additional measures in the package address daytime television programming and the regulation of unauthorized hobby garden constructions, but the alimony changes are the most widely noted.