A family dispute over a £1.1 million inheritance has ended with a UK judge upholding the will of a London mother who excluded her daughter and younger son from her estate, saying they had failed to show her enough “love and respect”. According to a report by The Independent, Dervishe Halil, who died aged 94 in 2021, left her entire estate to her eldest son, Dogan Halil, in her final will, drawn up in 2018. Her daughter, Aysel Gencay, challenged the document, alleging that her brother had manipulated their mother into changing her inheritance plans. The court rejected her claims and ruled that the will was valid.Dervishe, who was originally from Cyprus, moved to London with her husband in 1952. She had three children and, in earlier versions of her will, intended to divide her wealth among them. However, relations within the family deteriorated following a dispute between Dogan and his younger sister Aysel. The disagreement centred partly on a valuable family property in Packington Street, Islington, with Aysel accusing her brother of taking part of the property for his own benefit.The family tensions eventually affected Dervishe’s estate plans. Between 2013 and 2018, she made four wills, changing how her assets would be distributed. In 2015, she sent a handwritten letter to Aysel and her younger son, Attila, warning that they risked being excluded from her will unless they reconciled with Dogan and treated him and their mother with greater respect.In the letter, Dervishe criticised their behaviour towards their eldest brother, writing: “Your actions have destroyed my life and home, your actions towards your brother Dogan are very bad and shameful, we saw nothing but goodness from Dogan to all of us”. Three years later, she acted on the warning. Her 2018 will left the entire estate to Dogan, excluding Aysel and Attila. A separate handwritten note explained the decision, saying the conditions set out in her earlier letter had not been fulfilled.“You still do not talk to your brother Dogan, and you still do not show me love and respect. You destroyed my home and I deleted you from my will,” she wrote, according to the court reporting.Dervishe died in 2021, leaving an estate valued at approximately £1.1 million. Aysel subsequently brought a legal challenge against Dogan, who was administering the estate, arguing that their mother would not have independently decided to disinherit her.
Daughter alleged brother influenced mother’s decision
Aysel argued that Dogan had exerted undue influence over their mother and turned her against the younger siblings. Her legal team questioned whether Dervishe had understood and approved the contents of her final will, or whether she had been pressured into signing it. Her barrister, Peter John, argued that the decision was inconsistent with what Aysel understood to be her mother’s longstanding approach to inheritance: treating her children equally. He also questioned the authenticity and authorship of the handwritten letters, arguing that Dervishe could not have composed them without significant assistance. The language used in the letters, he suggested, bore similarities to Dogan’s correspondence.Aysel, who lived in Turkey, told the court that she had remained close to her mother and regularly travelled from Istanbul to visit her during her later years. “I remained extremely close to my mother all my life,” she said. She also maintained that her brother had influenced Dervishe’s views and that the final will did not reflect their mother’s genuine wishes. Her case included allegations of fraudulent calumny, a legal claim involving false statements that allegedly cause someone to change their will.Dogan denied the allegations. His position was that his mother had made her own decision and that he had not been involved in preparing the will or the accompanying letters. His wife, Susan, was also involved in the proceedings as a co-executor. Attila was a co-defendant, although Dogan and Susan had subsequently arranged for him to receive a one-third share of the estate through a deed of variation.
Judge finds no evidence of undue influence
Judge Mark Raeside KC, hearing the dispute at Central London County Court, rejected Aysel’s allegations and upheld the 2018 will. He found that Dogan had not helped prepare the document or the handwritten letters explaining his mother’s decision. “I reject the assertion that the deceased had any assistance from Dogan with her will. The evidence makes clear he was simply a dutiful son,” the judge said. He added that both side letters had been written in Turkish in Dervishe’s own handwriting and that Dogan had nothing to do with them.The court also considered evidence from the solicitor who prepared the will. Dervishe had attended the solicitor’s office on her own, and the solicitor’s records indicated that she appeared mentally sharp and understood what she was doing. When asked why she wanted to exclude her other children, she reportedly explained that they were not visiting her or showing interest in her.Aysel had also questioned whether her mother possessed the mental capacity to make the will. However, the judge rejected this argument, noting that although Dervishe displayed symptoms of dementia by 2020, that did not establish that she lacked the capacity to make decisions in 2018, when the contested will was drawn up. The judge also dismissed the allegations of dishonesty against Dogan, describing Aysel as having become “fixated” on trying to prove her brother had acted improperly. He said there was no dishonesty by Dogan and dismissed the case.
