TWO siblings have won a £460,000 inheritance dispute over their dad’s secret love for children after they discovered he had been leading a double life for decades.
Michael Gymer died in December 2020 at the age of 83, just six months after the death of his 81-year-old wife, Julie, with whom he had three children.
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Michael’s secret lover Beverley Credit: Champion News
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Siblings Joseph and Charlotte lost their court battle. Credit: Champion News
However, shortly before his death, three siblings – Shelley, 62, Gregory, 64, and Lee, 54 – discovered the shocking truth about their father’s life.
A relative revealed to them that their father, Michael, had been leading a secret and dirty double life for “decades”, behind their mother’s back.
He was in a relationship with a woman named Beverley Madden and with her he had two children – Joseph (29) and Charlotte (32).
The children only met properly for the first time at Michael’s funeral where Joseph helped carry the coffin.
Neither Michael nor July made a will, meaning their entire estate, worth £461,752, was split equally between his five biological children when he died.
However, it was revealed today that the two legitimate children sued and won a judgment at Central London District Court, recovering a larger sum of their father’s assets.
After dividing the inheritance equally, each initially received £92,350, including illegitimate children.
After the verdict, the couple siphoned around £170,000 from Michael’s estate, taking it away from their half-siblings.
Gregory and Lee argued that because Mom’s share was inherited by Michael, her money was effectively being shared among her husband’s love children, along with her own.
The judge rejected half-siblings Joseph and Charlotte’s argument that if Julie knew about the affair and was “bothered” by it, she would have changed her will.
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This means Lee and Gregory will end up with around £143,000 each from the inheritance, leaving the other three, including legitimate child Shelley, with just £58,000 each.
The order, which will state the terms of the judgment and the exact final amount that each of the five will receive, will be finalized later.
Recorder Jonathan Cohen KC explained how Michael’s affair had been “undercover for decades since at least 1992”.
He said all five children were “innocent victims” of the “mess” created by their father’s “deceptive action”.
The judge ruled, giving Gregory and Lee a third each of their mother’s share of the couple’s joint estate, under the Inheritance Act 1975.
It was made because it emerged that the brothers had urgent financial needs that warranted each receiving a third – around £85,000 – of their mother’s share of the family fortune.
‘BETRAYED’
Because Shelley’s needs were not the same, she was not awarded any of Julie’s inheritance as part of the judgment.
The court heard how mother Julie worked as a saleswoman to support and raise her family, while Michael worked as a market porter.
Together they ended up owning a £450,000 mortgage-free family home in Home Close, Carshalton, explained the brothers’ solicitor, Rory Brown.
However, hidden away from everyday life, Michael had an affair and created another secret family.
Charlotte and Joseph were aware from a young age that their dad Michael had another family and that the other family did not know about them, the judge told the court.
He also gave strict instructions for his two illegitimate children on how to communicate with him, not to “give away their secret.”
Joseph told the judge that he and his sister first met their half-siblings at Michael’s funeral when Shelley “came up and started complaining about how she felt betrayed”.
Secret lover Beverley claimed that Julie had known about her husband’s long-term affair since 1998, and Joseph added that Julie would have acted to disinherit them if she wanted to.
A lawyer for the three siblings questioned the likelihood of this happening, rejecting suggestions that Julie knew about the illegitimate children.
He also told the court that the three siblings helped care for their parents in their old age and argued that dividing the spoils between the five parties did not make “reasonable provision” for them in accordance with their rights under the Inheritance Act 1975.
After a three-day trial, Recorder Cohen KC ruled that brothers Gregory and Lee should each receive a third of Julie’s share of the couple’s fortune.
This was said to be worth £255,000 and the final third was divided equally between all five children, who would also share their father’s share of the family fortune.
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Charlotte pictured outside the field Credit: Champion News
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Her younger brother JosephCredit: Champion News
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