The boyfriend of a mother who died from breast cancer faked her will and a wedding in Cyprus in a bid to get his hands on her £500,000 fortune, a court has heard.
London cleaning company boss and mother-of-one Kassy Sinar was just 46 when she died of the disease in October 2023.
She left the whole of her £500,000 estate in trust for the benefit of her 16-year-old daughter Jocey in a will she made in 2022.
But after her death, her ‘abusive and toxic’ partner Cengiz Arif – Jocey’s father – tried to claim his daughter’s money for himself, producing a document which he claimed was Ms Sinar’s true last will, dated 10 May, 2023, under which everything went to him.
He also made bogus claims that he and Ms Sinar had secretly married in Cyprus in 2006 and even banned her family members from attending her funeral in London.
Mr Arif had previously abandoned his partner on her deathbed and flown abroad to spend two weeks in Cyprus instead.
Ms Sinar’s brother Ernest – who along with his wife Michelle is now Jocey’s legal guardian – went on to sue on the family’s behalf.
Now High Court judge Chief Master Karen Shuman has ruled that both the marriage certificate and the 2023 will were ‘forged’.
She upheld the 2022 will leaving all of Ms Sinar’s money in trust for her daughter, and ordered Mr Arif to pay the estimated £206,000 costs run up by Ms Sinar’s brother fighting the case.
The judge also stripped Mr Arif – who didn’t show up at court to defend the case – of his roles as executor of the 2022 will and trustee of his daughter’s trust fund, and made an injunction banning him from dealing with or dissipating any of the properties or money in Ms Sinar’s estate.
The court heard that Ms Sinar, originally from Manchester but living in London, had bought a property in Kimberley Gardens, Finsbury Park
She and Mr Arif were in an on-off relationship with Jocey born in 2009, but the couple then split between 2011 and 2018.
Ms Sinar told friends that she had refused his proposal of marriage and that the relationship was ‘abusive and toxic’.
The couple later got back together, but tragically Ms Sinar was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in October 2023 in a hospice.
After her death relations broke down, with brother Ernest and his wife holding their own memorial service for Ms Sinar after Mr Arif banned them from her cremation in London.
Mr Arif then came forward with the supposed 2023 will, leaving all Ms Sinar’s estate including her London home and a bolt hole house she had bought in Thurston Street, Burnley, to him.
He also began pocketing the rental income from the Finsbury Park property, the court heard.
He claimed that she had self-drafted and signed the will without informing her family or daughter, and that the pair had secretly married in 2006 without her brother or any other of her friends or family having known.
Mr Arif made no claim to be her husband before her death.
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Ms Sinar’s brother made enquiries with the Turkish authorities questioning the validity of the marriage certificate produced, only to be told that no wedding had taken place on the date claimed and that the registrar Mr Arif named had not even been working.
Turkish authorities confirmed that ‘the marriage is not legally valid’, the judge said.
She continued: ‘Nobody was aware that Kassy was allegedly married.
I’m satisfied on the evidence that I have heard that this was an unhappy, toxic and abusive relationship. There is evidence of physical and emotional abuse.
‘In her last weeks of life, he left her to travel to Cyprus for at least two weeks.
‘She was never married to Cengiz, therefore he has adduced to the court a forged document.
‘Cengiz produced in these proceedings a false document. He was never married to Kassy.
‘I’m satisfied that the marriage certificate is a forged document.’
Moving on the to the wills, the judge said that Mr Arif had claimed the 2022 will was not valid due to amendments Ms Sinar had made to it after it was initially drawn up and signed.
But the judge ruled that alterations had not made it void.
‘There is nothing before me to impugn the behaviour of Ernest or his solicitors. I’m satisfied that the 2022 will was duly executed,’ she said.
She went on to find that the 2023 will produced by Mr Arif was a fake.
‘The explanation Cengiz gave of how the 2023 will came to be prepared is preposterous. It is indeed incredible.
‘There was very strong evidence that the signature was not Kassy’s,’ she added, saying that a handwriting expert had said that the signature on it bore all the hallmarks of someone else trying to copy Ms Sinar’s signature.
‘It is inherently implausible that Cengiz’s case is correct. Had Kassy made the 2023 will, she would have told Ernest.
‘I’m satisfied on the basis of the evidence that has been presented to me that the 2023 will was forged. The will relied on by Cengiz was not the last will of Kassy. I also find that the marriage certificate was a forged document.
The 2023 will is a forgery. I’m satisfied that there has been fraud in this case.
‘This is an estate that Kassy wanted to go to her daughter not her sometime partner and the father of her child.
‘I therefore pronounce in favour of the 2022 will. In light of my findings it’s quite clear that Cengiz should be removed forthwith as executor of the estate and trustee of the will trust,’ the judge said.
The judge added that it is unclear exactly how much Ms Sinar’s estate was worth but added to ‘in excess of £35,000’ in cash from the rental of the London property which has been going into a bank account controlled by Mr Arif.
‘Cengiz’s conduct demonstrates a want of honesty and fidelity. I consider it both necessary and proportionate to restrain him from dealing with any estate assets,’ the judge said.
‘I’m very concerned that he has advance a case on the basis of a forged will supported by a forged marriage certificate and has ignored court orders.
‘Given the forgery and level of fraud in this case….I’m deeply concerned that he will try to remove estate assets.’
She made an order that Mr Arif’s bank disclose details of the rent payments to Ernest’s lawyers as well as freezing his ability to deal with Ms Sinar’s cash and properties.
The judge went on to order him to pay Ernest’s costs of the case, which his barrister Sarah Harrison said came to around £206,000.
The judge ordered an up front payment of £120,000 on account of those costs.
Verity Hudson, from Ernest’s solicitors Rothley Law said after the case:
‘This was a complex and emotional case that required careful investigation. Having worked closely with the family since 2023, we’re so pleased to have helped secure the right outcome for them.
SOURCE: Dailymail
