Buying in Your Child's Name: Minors, Adult Children and Turkish Citizenship Structuring

Last updated: August 2026

Your instinct says: we are buying this apartment for the children anyway — why not put the title directly in their name? It is a natural succession instinct, and in most countries it is harmless. In a Turkish citizenship by investment purchase, buying property in your child's name is usually the single most expensive structuring mistake a family can make: the child owns an apartment, and nobody gets a passport.

This guide explains the ownership rule that drives everything, what actually happens with minors and with adult children, the illiquidity trap of minor-owned Turkish property, and the succession structures that protect both the inheritance and the citizenship. Rules as of August 2026 — confirm current requirements with GMC before structuring a purchase.

Structuring for a family? GMC's Pre-Check® reviews your family composition, ages and documents for EUR 200 and recommends the ownership structure in writing before you commit: glmbcp.com/precheck

The core rule: the applicant must personally own the investment

Turkish citizenship by investment attaches to the person who makes the qualifying investment. For the real-estate route that means: the main applicant must personally hold the title (or the notarized, annotated purchase commitment) for the USD 400,000+ property, with payments documented from the applicant to the seller (as of August 2026 — confirm with GMC).

Two consequences follow immediately:

• A minor (under 18) cannot be a main applicant. Citizenship by investment is applied for by an adult investor; children participate as dependents on a parent's file.
• Property owned by someone who is not the applicant does not count. Not your child's property, not your brother's, not your company's (outside specific structures). The state examines whose name is on the tapu and whose money made the payments.

The full mechanics of the program are in the complete 2026 guide.

What actually happens if you buy in a minor's name

Turkish law allows a minor to own real estate — the purchase itself is legal, with the parents acting as legal representatives. But for citizenship, the outcome is stark:

• The child owns the property. Nobody gets citizenship from it. The parents are not applicants (they own nothing qualifying); the child cannot apply (under 18).
• The "wait until 18" theory is fragile. In principle the child could apply after turning 18 on the basis of their own investment — but the purchase, the appraisal and the entire DAB payment chain must then stand in the child's name and meet the rules in force at that time. Whether a purchase made years earlier, with payments from the parents' accounts, would be accepted retroactively is uncertain. ****
• Program terms can change between now and the 18th birthday. Thresholds and rules have changed repeatedly since 2017; a structure that waits years to become usable carries regulatory risk no one can price.

In short: a minor's-name purchase converts USD 400,000 of citizenship-eligible capital into a nice apartment with no migration value. It is on our list of the most common application mistakes for a reason.

The correct default: parent buys, family follows

The structure that works is straightforward:

• One parent buys and applies as main applicant, holding the full qualifying title.
• The spouse and all children under 18 are included in the same application as dependents — no additional investment required for them.
• Children who acquire Turkish citizenship keep it for life; it does not lapse when they turn 18. And children born after a parent becomes a Turkish citizen are Turkish by descent automatically.

Which parent should buy can matter — funds traceability, existing assets, estate planning in your home country — and both-spouses co-ownership structures are possible if the qualifying amount is respected. Details of family scope, consent documents (including the non-applicant parent's consent for minors) and required certificates are in our family inclusion guide: spouse, children, parents.

The real problem: children who are 18 or older

Here is the part families discover too late. Children aged 18+ are not included in a parent's citizenship application — the family scope covers spouse and minor children only (dependent adult children with a documented disability may be considered under separate provisions;). For a family with a 19-year-old at university, the options are:

Option A — a separate qualifying investment. The adult child makes their own USD 400,000 investment and their own application. Doubles the capital, produces a second fully independent citizenship — often the right answer for families that were planning two properties anyway.

Option B — residence, not citizenship. The adult child takes a residence permit route instead: property-linked short-term residence, a student permit while at a Turkish university, or other permit categories. Renewable, far cheaper, but a fundamentally weaker status than citizenship — and long-term citizenship through residence follows entirely different rules.

Option C — timing. If a child is 17, file before the 18th birthday. The child's age at the application date is what should govern inclusion — but do not run this to the wire: file months early, not weeks, and confirm the current position before relying on it. [Confirm age-at-application-date rule with NVI at filing.]

Peak-intent moment: if one of your children is 16–17, the calendar is now part of your structure. Message the family's ages to GMC on WhatsApp (+90 544 457 55 12) or book a consultation in Istanbul, Athens or Dubai — we will map who can be included, and by when.

The illiquidity trap: selling a minor-owned property in Türkiye

Suppose you buy in your child's name anyway — for succession, not citizenship. Understand what you have created:

That middle row is the trap parents underestimate: if the family's plans change — a better project, a currency need, a relocation — the asset cannot simply be sold because the parents wish it. A Turkish court will ask whether the sale benefits the child, not the family. Illiquidity plus loss of control at 18 is a high price for skipping proper succession tools.

Succession structures that do not break the citizenship

You can protect the children's inheritance without sacrificing the family's passports:

• Parent owns + Turkish will (vasiyetname). The applicant parent holds the title, and a notarized Turkish will directs the property to the children. Turkish inheritance law includes reserved-share rules for close family, so wills touching Turkish real estate should be drafted with local advice — but as a structure it preserves both citizenship eligibility and succession intent.
• Statutory succession already protects children. Under Turkish law, children are first-rank legal heirs. Even without a will, the property passes to spouse and children by law.
• Transfer later, deliberately. After citizenship is granted and the 3-year no-sale commitment has run, the parent can gift or transfer shares to the children — including children who by then are adults — with the passports already secured. Transfers within the 3-year commitment window are restricted by the annotation, so sequence matters.
• Separate the goals. If the children must own property now, buy them a separate, non-qualifying property — and keep the USD 400,000 qualifying asset in the applicant's name, per the 400K route rules.

Decision table: family situation → sensible structure

As of August 2026 — confirm with GMC.

Conclusion: buy for the family, title for the applicant

Buying property in your child's name and Turkish citizenship pull in opposite directions: the program rewards exactly one structure — applicant owns, family included — and quietly punishes every sentimental deviation from it. Put the succession into wills and later transfers, not into the tapu of a seven-year-old. Structured correctly, one USD 400,000 purchase can carry a spouse and every under-18 child to citizenship, keep the asset controllable, and still end up with the children — in that order.

• Family structure review: Pre-Check® — EUR 200, written recommendation on your family's optimal setup
• Quick question about ages and inclusion: WhatsApp +90 544 457 55 12
• Full consultation — Istanbul (Altunizade), Athens or Dubai. Fixed-fee, documented advisory; IMC member firm; independent valuation on every property we review.