Glossary
Decree absolute — explained for Turkish readers
The final court order that ended a marriage in England and Wales under the old divorce procedure, for cases started before 6 April 2022.
A decree absolute was the order that legally dissolved a marriage in England and Wales. Under the procedure that applied to petitions issued before 6 April 2022, the court first granted a decree nisi, and at least six weeks later the decree absolute. Only the decree absolute ended the marriage; a decree nisi on its own did not. Later divorces use the terms conditional order and final order, but existing decrees absolute remain valid.
The Turkish equivalent is a boşanma kararı bearing a kesinleşme şerhi. A Turkish judge issues one judgment and the court later stamps it as final once appeal rights have run out; the English two-stage process spreads those steps across two separate documents, so a translation into Turkish must make clear that the decree absolute is the final one.
Turkish nüfus offices register a UK divorce on production of the apostilled decree and its Turkish translation; see getting a UK divorce recognised in Turkey.