Inside the late Tob Cohens will

A battle for the estate of the late Dutch Business Tycoon Tob Cohen is shaping up.

The bruising inheritance battle was set off on Friday with the opening of his will before his sister, brother and his lawyers.

Sources close to the family have revealed that the already contentious will has expressly left out Sarah Wairimu from inheriting anything in Tob Cohen’s estate.

According to insiders, Cohen who did not have a child has given 50 percent of his estate to his sister Gabrielle Stratan and the other 50 percent is to be split into half between his nephew and niece.

His bank balances are supposed to be channeled to his sister, Gabrielle.

Cohen’s siblings were presented with his will on Friday that remains private even as his estranged wife and her legal team kept away, preparing to contest the will in court.

Sarah Wairimu’s lawyer Philip Murgor whose office is directly opposite Tob Cohen’s lawyer, snubbed the will opening claiming it was being done in bad taste at a time the widow was still locked up in remand and even before his burial.

An affidavit has since emerged indicating Sarah and Cohen begun living together in 1998 as husband and wife.

In July 2006, the two held a Kikuyu customary ceremony.

In the affidavit, Sarah claims that they jointly purchased their plot on Farasi Lane in 2000 and it was registered in the name of Tob Cohen as it was agreed between them.

Further, it indicates that the two begun developing the land in 2007 by building their home.

Sarah now claims that by virtue of their marriage, the plot jointly belongs to the duo and each party has an equal right or claim over the same.

Section 14 of the Matrimonial Property Act indicates that where matrimonial property is acquired during marriage in the name of one spouse, there is a presumption that the property is held in trust for the other spouse.

In the case of a murdered spouse, Section 96 of the Succession Act indicates a person who, while sane, murders another person shall not be entitled directly or indirectly to any share in the estate of the murdered person.

This can however only be ascertained by sufficient evidence of the fact that the person convicted committed the murder.

His wife is currently remanded at Lang’ata Women’s Prison after a court ordered that she be detained for 10 days as police complete investigations.

Tob Cohen’s body was discovered at his home inside an underground tank almost two months after he was reported missing.

Detectives said the eyes were blindfolded, hands and feet bound with a rope at the neck.

The body had also been wrapped in a blue blanket.

Before his death, the two were entangled in a matrimonial dispute.