Wedding jewellery (bridal gold)

Wedding jewellery refers to the gold, ornaments and similar valuables gifted at the wedding. Under settled Turkish case law these items are, regardless of who gifted them and on whom they were placed, presumed donated to the bride and constitute her personal property, though local custom may be proven to the contrary.

Being personal property, the jewellery falls outside the division of the matrimonial regime, and the wife may at any time claim its return in kind or its value in a separate action. Gold converted to cash during the marriage for wedding debts or household expenses does not extinguish the duty to return it; the spouse holding the items bears the burden of proving they were given on non-returnable terms.

The core difficulty is proof: the existence and nature of the items are usually established through wedding footage and witnesses. Since the defence that the bride took the jewellery when leaving is frequently raised, assembling the evidence before filing determines the outcome.