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By John Hyde2021-02-25T10:21:00+00:00
A recently-qualified solicitor has been struck off after she created a fake decree absolute and led a client to believe his divorce was complete.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Ebru Atas, who qualified in 2017, had the client pay £1,630 fees directly into her personal bank account and told him these were being paid to the firm.
She created a false decree absolute in the client’s name and certified a copy of this document. It was later confirmed by the Bury St Edmunds divorce unit there was ‘no trace’ of documents relating to this client. Even when the matter was uncovered, Atas had phoned the client and told him he should trust her as his legal representative, insisting the decree absolute was a genuine document.
Solicitor struck off over falsified decree absolute
19 February 2021
Divorce: The decree absolute that wasn’t
A solicitor who led a client to believe he was divorced after she falsified a decree absolute has been struck off.
Ebru Atas also admitted having the client pay her in cash, which she kept rather than give to her employer, as well as getting a legally aided client to pay fees he was not liable for into her personal bank account.
Ms Atas was a paralegal and then, after qualifying in 2017, a solicitor at North London firm Kilic & Kilic.
According to an agreed outcome between Ms Atas and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), she was sacked for gross misconduct in September 2019 when it came to light that she had demanded that a client in receipt of legal aid pay fees of £1,635 into her bank account – he thought he was paying the firm.