Muhallefat And Musadere Procedure in Ottoman Empire in 18th Century

When the government confiscated someone's entire estate in the Ottoman Empire, this was called a "musadere." In 18th century, number of musaderes increased dramatically. The government would almost always start a musadere procedure when someone wealthy died. This procedure was executed in two main steps. For the first step, each and every item of the deceased person's possessions were identified, counted, and listed under surveillance of an officer called "mubashir." Then, these lists, or defters, were sent to Istanbul. According to the order received from the capital, the possessions were to be either sold and this sum used to be sent to Istanbul, or the possessions altogether used to be sent as goods.