A reality TV star and personal trainer\u2019s claim for share of a \u00a338 million estate left by his mother\u2019s ex-boyfriend has no prospect of success, High Court judge Deputy Master William Henderson has ruled.<\/p>\n
Lonan O\u2019Herlihy (pictured) had claimed a \u00a35 million share of the estate of Hugh Taylor, with whom his mother had a relationship between 1995 and 2003. Mr Taylor married his wife Jennifer in 2010 and left the bulk of his estate to his widow when he died in 2019.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Herlihy claimed his mother\u2019s ex was a father figure to him as a child and claimed \u201creasonable provision\u201d of \u00a35 million from the estate. He also sought to bring his claim out of time on the basis that he didn\u2019t have the knowledge or financial means to lodge a claim within the usual six-month deadline after Mr Taylor\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Asking for \u201creasonable financial provision for Lonan\u2019s maintenance,\u201d Mr O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s barrister Hugh Jeffery told the judge that Mr Taylor had assumed \u201cparental responsibility\u201d for him and had maintained him financially until the age of 22 or 23.<\/p>\n
\u201cHugh\u2019s considerable wealth derived principally from dealings in real estate,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe discussed his business interests frequently with Lonan and promised that Lonan would assume management of various parts of the empire with a view to inheritance of the whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave Lonan every reason to expect continued support in a career in real estate.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Mr O\u2019Herlihy had made \u201cimportant life choices,\u201d including university studies, based on that assurance and that there is a \u201cmarked contrast between the lifestyle that Lonan was brought up to expect and his present financial precarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Wilson KC, for Jennifer Taylor, called the claim \u201copportunistic,\u201d highlighting a specific list Mr O\u2019Herlihy had sent to the widow setting out what he wanted from Mr Taylor\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n
It included a \u00a33 million property in Queen\u2019s Gate Place, South Kensington, a 1969-70 Mercedes 280SL Pagoda worth \u00a3250,000, a Patek Philippe watch, a Melehior D\u2019hondecoeter painting and \u00a3800,000 for the purchase of an investment property, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a claim for reasonable provision for his maintenance,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt is his wish list of greed \u2013 houses, cars, watches, this is a world away from reasonable provision.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis approach seems to be: this is a large estate, let\u2019s give Mr O\u2019Herlihy a big chunk of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also insisted that Mr Taylor had \u201cdisavowed\u201d any obligations to financially maintain Mr O\u2019Herlihy in an email sent in 2012.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Herlihy was seeking permission to bring his claim out of time on the basis that he didn\u2019t have the knowledge or financial means to lodge a claim within the usual six-month deadline after Mr Taylor\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Giving his ruling and dismissing the case this week, the judge said it had no realistic prospect of succeeding, even if it had been brought in time.<\/p>\n
He said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe claimant asserts that he was treated as a child of the family by the deceased and received emotional, educational and financial support from the deceased during his childhood and into early adulthood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI consider that there is a real prospect of the claimant\u2019s case that the deceased treated him as a son or stepson being accepted in respect of the period from 1995 to 2005.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Jeffery submitted that the appropriate standard of living by reference to which the claimant\u2019s financial needs should be assessed was a high one which was commensurate with his upbringing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI reject that submission and consider that at, and after, the death of the deceased, the appropriate standard of living for the claimant was and remains that which he was capable of and did enjoy from his own resources and earnings. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe high standard of living which he enjoyed by reason of the deceased\u2019s support ceased in 2012, some seven years before the deceased died.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 2012 or 2013, the claimant knew that no provision would be made for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 2012, the claimant was emancipated from the deceased. He lived a separate life based on his own earnings, resources and needs, with no assistance from the deceased.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time of the deceased\u2019s death, the claimant was aged very nearly 30. Then and thereafter, he was capable of and did earn his own living with a standard of living appropriate to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dismissing the argument that Mr O\u2019Herlihy had acted to his detriment on the basis of his expectation that he would inherit a share of Mr Taylor\u2019s property empire, the judge continued:<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a matter of fact there is no real prospect of the claimant establishing that he acted to his detriment or prejudiced himself in reliance on the representations. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most that could be said is that he chose to study property and construction rather than some other subject at university because of the deceased\u2019s representations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there is no evidence that by studying property and construction, the claimant in any way acted to his detriment or prejudiced himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe claimant has no real prospect of establishing that at the relevant time \u2013 i.e. the deceased\u2019s death \u2013 the deceased had any obligations or responsibilities to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no significant counterbalancing consideration of very straitened circumstances or real poverty for the claimant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe claimant has no real prospect of establishing other than that he earns and is capable of earning an income which is sufficient to provide for the cost of his daily living at the standard of living appropriate to him, that is to say the standard which he created for himself after his separation from the deceased in 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n
In relation to allegations that Mrs Taylor\u2019s \u201cconduct caused the isolation of the deceased from the claimant and others\u201d\u00a0the judge said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the present case the accuracy or otherwise of the\u2026allegations made by the claimant remain unresolved. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, even if those allegations were made good, they would not affect my reasons given above for holding that the claimant has no real prospect of establishing that the appropriate standard of living by reference to which his financial needs should be assessed was a high one which was commensurate with his upbringing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to order Mr O\u2019Herlihy to pay \u00a3370,000 up front towards the legal costs bill, which currently stands at over \u00a32 million pending a full assessment by a costs judge.<\/p>\n
The total includes around \u00a31.5 million being claimed by Mrs Taylor\u2019s lawyers, which Mr O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s barrister Mr Jeffery criticised as \u201castronomical\u201d and \u201ccompletely out of proportion with the nature of the claim,\u201d along with \u00a3163,000 claimed by the administrator of the estate, who was joined as a party to the action, and \u00a3355,000 owed to Mr O\u2019Herlihy\u2019s own lawyers.<\/p>\n
Speaking after the case, Mr O\u2019Herlihy insisted he had never been motivated by greed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy earliest memories of a father figure in my life are of Hugh,\u201d he said outside court.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe raised me as his son and gave me some of the most precious moments imaginable. I feel fortunate to have had him in my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cBringing this case was never about seeking an unjust financial benefit. What I hoped for was simply to retain a small part of what Hugh had always indicated would be set aside for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe circumstances in Hugh\u2019s final years were complicated and that I was not able to remain in contact with him despite many attempts to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was my father from five years old until a sudden and unexplained pause on the relationship at 22. I hope to one day find out where he is buried so I can pay my respects.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the outcome, I remain deeply proud of the role Hugh played in my life. In time, I hope to acquire and preserve some of the items sold by the estate that once belonged to him, so that part of his legacy can remain connected to those who knew and cared for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis process has taken a heavy toll over several years, but I respect the decision of the court and I bear no ill will towards Mrs Taylor. I now intend to focus on moving forward with my life and work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A reality TV star and personal trainer\u2019s claim for share of a \u00a338 million estate left by his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-474885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}