A Made in Chelsea star has been told to pay an ‘astronomical’ £2million legal bill after losing a High Court battle over the £38million fortune of his mother’s ex-boyfriend.
Lonan O’Herlihy, known as ‘Posh PT’, sued the widow of Hugh Taylor after being left out of the property tycoon’s will following his death in 2019.
The reality TV star, who claimed Mr Taylor was a ‘father figure’ to him and claimed he needed a £5million cut of the estate to live off.
Mr O’Herlihy, 36, was accused by Mr Taylor’s widow Jennifer, who was also the executor of his will, of drawing up a ‘wish list of greed’ after bringing the legal proceedings against her.
Now the 36-year-old faces have to pay an eye-watering £2million in fees after a judge threw out his case, saying it had ‘no real prospect of success’ and it had been brought more than four years too late.
Mr Taylor left behind a glittering collection of classic cars, exclusive properties, and even a WW2-era Hawker Hurricane fighter plane – almost all of which were left to Jennifer under a will written in 2015.
The High Court heard that Mr O’Herlihy, whose mother was with Mr Taylor from 1995 to 2003, grew up in the multi-millionaire’s Tudor manor house, and also had his private school fees and university education funded by him.
Even after the split, Mr O’Herlihy remained close with Mr Taylor, he said, receiving ‘extravagant birthday gifts’ from him, including a £5,000 watch and a £40,000 Audi.
But the reality star, who appeared in series eight of Made in Chelsea, said he was gradually ‘cut out’ of Mr Taylor’s life after he married Jennifer in 2010.
He said his current financial state was ‘precarious’ and asked for assets from the estate worth £5million, under the 1975 Inheritance Act, to allow him to continue living the lifestyle he became accustomed to under Mr Taylor’s wing.
Lonan O’Herlihy, known as the ‘Posh PT’, sued his mother’s ex-boyfriend’s widow for a share of his £38million estate
Mr Hugh Taylor’s widow, Jennifer Taylor, pictured here in classic car, won the court battle over the multi-millionaire’s will against the Made in Chelsea star
This week, he lost that fight – with lawyers for Jennifer branding his claim ‘opportunistic’.
High Court judge Deputy Master William Henderson ruled his case has ‘no prospect of success’ and that Mr Taylor had no responsibilities towards Mr O’Herlihy by the time of his death.
Any expectation of his sharing in his mum’s ex’s riches should have been abandoned by 2012 when
Mr Taylor sent an email disavowing any responsibility towards Mr O’Herlihy in 2012, which should have dispelled any expectation of inheriting any money, the judge found.
He concluded that Mr O’Herlihy is capable of sustaining an ‘appropriate standard of living’ through his own work.
The judge ordered Mr O’Herlihy to pick up the legal bill for the trial, which the court heard total more than £2million – a figure branded ‘astronomical’ by the star’s legal team.
That includes £1.5m claimed by the widow’s lawyers, £163,000 by the administrator of the estate Keith Upsdell, who was joined as a party to the action, and £355,000 owed to Mr O’Herlihy’s own lawyers.
Speaking afterwards, Mr O’Herlihy insisted that the case had never been about greed.
Mr Taylor (pictured) was a property dealer as well as a renowned car and plane collector, who left behind a £38million estate after his death in 2019
This is the Hawker Hurricane fighter plane Hugh Taylor owned, which was restored to flight
‘My earliest memories of a father figure in my life are of Hugh,’ he said outside court.
‘He 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.
‘Bringing 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.
‘The circumstances in Hugh’s final years were complicated and that I was not able to remain in contact with him despite many attempts to do so.
‘He 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.
‘Despite 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.
‘This 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.’
Reality TV star Mr O’Herlihy joined the ‘Made in Chelsea’ cast for its eighth series in 2014, starring alongside the likes of Spencer Matthews and Alexandra ‘Binky’ Felstead.
The court heard his painter mum Pamela had been in a ‘committed romantic relationship’ with Hugh Taylor between 1995 and 2003 and during that time she, Lonan and his brother Rogan lived as ‘a family unit’.
Mr O’Herlihy told the judge: ‘Hugh was a father to me and I was a son to him’.
Mr O’Herlihy’s barrister Hugh Jeffery told the judge that Mr Taylor had assumed ‘parental responsibility’ for him and had maintained him financially until the age of 22 or 23.
Mr Taylor had paid him a monthly allowance of £500 until 2012, gave him his first car in 2006, and given him a £5,000 watch for his 18th birthday and a £40,000 Audi for his 21st in 2010, said the barrister.
He said Mr O’Herlihy had made ‘important life choices,’ including university studies, based on that assurance and that there is a ‘marked contrast between the lifestyle that Lonan was brought up to expect and his present financial precarity’.
While the TV star earns around £90,000 a year through his training business, he has ‘no capital assets whatsoever’ and owes debts of around £170,000, he said.
Richard Wilson KC, for the widow, claimed the bid was ‘opportunistic,’ highlighting a list of specific items Mr O’Herlihy identified as wanting to inherit.
It included a £3m property in Queen’s Gate Place, South Kensington, a 1969-70 Mercedes 280SL Pagoda worth £250,000, a Patek Philippe watch, a Melehior D’hondecoeter painting and £800,000 for the purchase of an investment property, he said.
‘This is not a claim for reasonable provision for his maintenance,’ he continued. ‘It is his wish list of greed – houses, cars, watches, this is a world away from reasonable provision.
‘His approach seems to be: this is a large estate, let’s give Mr O’Herlihy a big chunk of it.’
Mr O’Herlihy was seeking permission to bring his claim out of time, with the usual six-month deadline after death having long elapsed, on the basis that he didn’t previously have the knowledge or financial means to lodge a claim.
Giving his ruling and throwing out the reality star’s case this week, the judge said it had no realistic prospect of succeeding, even if it had been brought in time.
He said: ‘The 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.
‘I consider that there is a real prospect of the claimant’s case that the deceased treated him as a son or stepson being accepted in respect of the period from 1995 to 2005.
‘Mr Jeffery submitted that the appropriate standard of living by reference to which the claimant’s financial needs should be assessed was a high one which was commensurate with his upbringing.
‘I 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.
‘The high standard of living which he enjoyed by reason of the deceased’s support ceased in 2012, some seven years before the deceased died.
‘By 2012 or 2013, the claimant knew that no provision would be made for him.
‘After 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.
‘At the time of the deceased’s 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.’
He went on to order the reality star to pay £370,000 up front towards the legal costs bill, pending a full assessment by a costs judge.
