Precautionary Attachment in Türkiye: Freezing a Debtor's Assets Before Judgment

Precautionary attachment (ihtiyati hacizİhtiyati hacizPrecautionary attachment (asset freeze)A court-ordered freeze on a debtor's assets granted early — before the case ends — to stop them being moved out of reach.Glossary →) is a court order that freezes a debtor's assets in Türkiye (Turkey) before you have won your case, so there is still something left to collect when you do. It is the single most useful tool a creditor has, because the real risk in a cross-border debt is not losing the argument — it is winning a judgment against an empty shell after the money and property have quietly moved on. This guide explains when a Turkish court will grant precautionary attachment, what you must show and post, how to lock it in on time, and how a debtor can fight back.

What is precautionary attachment, and why does it matter?

Precautionary attachment — ihtiyati hacizHacizAttachment / seizure of assetsThe step in an enforcement proceeding where the debtor's assets are legally attached so they can be sold to pay the debt.Glossary → — is an interim, protective seizure of a debtor's assets granted by a court to secure a money claim before the claim has been finally decided or enforced. It is governed by the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İcra ve İflas Kanunu, Law No. 2004), Articles 257 and following. Once granted and applied, it stops the debtor from selling, transferring, or emptying the frozen assets to defeat you.

Think of it as a legal freeze button. A commercial dispute in Turkey can take a long time to travel through the courts, and a debtor who sees the claim coming has every incentive to move bank balances, re-register vehicles, or transfer real estate to a relative or a friendly company in the meantime. By the time you hold a final judgment, the debtor on paper may own nothing. Precautionary attachment is how you preserve the target while the case runs.

This is the front end of the same machinery covered in our guide to debt collection in Türkiye: attachment protects the assets, and enforcement proceedings (icra takibiİcra takibiEnforcement proceedingA state-run collection proceeding opened through an Enforcement Office (İcra Dairesi) to recover a debt — in many cases without first winning a lawsuit.Glossary →) turn the frozen assets into money you actually recover.

When can a Turkish court grant precautionary attachment?

The starting point is Article 257 of Law No. 2004, which splits into two situations depending on whether your claim is already due.

For a claim that is already due. A creditor holding a money claim that has fallen due and is not secured by a pledge may ask for precautionary attachment. You do not need a final judgment first — that is the whole point — but you do need to make the claim and its grounds credible to the court (an approximate showing, yaklaşık ispat, rather than full proof). A signed contract, an accepted invoice, a bounced cheque or promissory note, or clear correspondence acknowledging the debt is the kind of evidence that persuades a judge.

For a claim that is not yet due. Attachment before the due date is exceptional. Under Article 257, it is available only where the debtor has no fixed place of residence in Türkiye, or where the debtor is preparing to flee, to conceal assets, or to spirit property away in order to escape the obligation. In other words, you must show a real, imminent risk of dissipation — a general worry that the debtor might not pay is not enough.

İhtiyati Haciz vs İhtiyati Tedbir: which measure fits your dispute?

Foreign creditors constantly confuse the two Turkish interim measures. They are not interchangeable, and asking for the wrong one wastes time you may not have.

How does the precautionary attachment process work, step by step?

Speed and sequence are everything. The measure only works if you obtain it quietly and then lock it in within the statutory deadlines. In outline:

1. File the request. Apply to the competent court (a commercial court for commercial claims), setting out the claim, the evidence, and the assets you want frozen. The application is typically decided without first hearing the debtor, so surprise is preserved.
2. Post security. The court will normally require the creditor to deposit a guarantee (teminat) before issuing the order, under Article 259, to cover damage to the debtor if the attachment later proves unjustified.
3. Obtain the order. If satisfied, the court issues the attachment decision identifying what may be frozen.
4. Execute it in time. You must ask the enforcement office to apply the attachment within the short window set by Article 261 — measured in days from the decision — or the order lapses. This is where creditors most often lose their advantage through delay.
5. Start the main proceeding. Precautionary attachment is a bridge, not a destination. If you obtained it before commencing enforcement or suit, Article 264 requires you to initiate the substantive proceeding (enforcement proceedings or a lawsuit) within a further short statutory period, or the freeze falls away.

Miss either deadline and the whole thing unwinds — the debtor's assets are released and, worse, the debtor now knows you are coming. Because these periods are tight and counted in days, this is a step to run with a lawyer watching the calendar. Our debt collection and enforcement team handles the filing and the follow-through deadlines together, so the freeze does not evaporate on a technicality.

What security (teminat) will the court require?

Because you are freezing someone's assets before proving your case, Turkish law balances the scales by making you put money on the table too. Under Article 259 of Law No. 2004, the court generally orders the creditor to post security as a condition of the attachment. If the attachment later turns out to have been wrongful — you lose the case, or the claim was never valid — that security is there to compensate the debtor's loss, and the debtor may bring a claim for damages.

The amount is set at the court's discretion and is usually fixed as a proportion of the sum you are claiming; it is not a single fixed figure written into the statute, so it varies with the claim and the assets involved. Security is commonly provided as cash or, frequently in commercial matters, a bank letter of guarantee. A recognised exemption exists where the claim rests on a final court judgment or equivalent strong document, in which case the court may reduce or waive security.

How can the debtor fight back?

Precautionary attachment is powerful but not one-sided. Law No. 2004 gives the debtor — and affected third parties — real ways to respond, and a creditor should expect them.

• Objection to the attachment (Art. 265). A debtor who was not heard before the order can object to the court, typically within a short statutory period after learning of the attachment, challenging the grounds, the evidence, the security, or the court's competence. The court then reviews the decision.
• Lifting the freeze by posting security (Art. 266). The debtor can secure the release of the attached assets by depositing an equivalent guarantee. This unfreezes the property while still protecting your eventual claim — often a pragmatic outcome for both sides.
• Damages for a wrongful freeze. If the attachment was unjustified, the debtor can pursue the creditor for the loss caused, drawing on the security you posted under Article 259.

None of this should deter a well-founded creditor. It simply means the request has to be built properly: a credible, documented claim, honest grounds, and correct procedure. A rushed or speculative attachment is the one that gets overturned — and turned back on you.

What does this mean for a foreign creditor?

If you are chasing a Turkish counterparty from abroad, precautionary attachment is often the difference between a paper win and real recovery. The practical sequence for a foreign business is usually: identify the debtor's assets in Türkiye (bank accounts, receivables, vehicles, real estate), obtain the freeze quickly and quietly, then commence enforcement or suit inside the deadline so the freeze holds. Our guide to recovering debt from a Turkish company walks through how this fits the wider collection strategy, and the US Desk supports American businesses through the whole path.

Two cross-border points matter. First, a creditor litigating from outside Türkiye may face a separate requirement to post security for the costs of the lawsuit itself (cautio judicatum solvi under the Code of Civil Procedure), unless a treaty or reciprocity relieves it — this is distinct from the attachment security and should be planned for. Second, precautionary attachment pairs naturally with judgment enforcement: if you already hold a foreign judgment or award, you can move to enforce it against assets in Türkiye and use attachment to preserve those assets in the meantime. For the recognition mechanics, see our recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments service.

Because the deadlines are counted in days and the security must be ready up front, the freeze rewards preparation and punishes delay. If a Turkish debtor is going quiet or assets look like they are moving, that is the moment to act — not after judgment.

Frequently asked questions