Nephew seeks facts about uncle’s estate, including valuable art, after unpublicised death

A nephew is seeking to establish who is entitled to the estate of his deceased uncle, a former RTÉ press and information officer who got a substantial inheritance including valuable artworks from the late art collector and businessman Gordon Lambert.

Anthony, otherwise Tony, Lyons died on May 10th, 2019, aged 85, but his nephew Ciaran Lyons only learned of his death in late 2020. His uncle, whose three siblings predeceased him, was a childless bachelor and is survived by the five children of his brother Joe, including Mr Lyons.

In an affidavit, Ciaran Lyons, of Rathdown Park, Greystones, Co Wicklow, said he was “moderately close” to his uncle during his lifetime but met him only occasionally after the latter moved to a new home at Kilgobbin Heights, Kilgobbin, in 2018.

He believed the events following his uncle’s death were “somewhat bizarre”. Someone, whom he now believes to be Maria Thorpe, of Garristown, Co Dublin, arranged his uncle’s cremation, he said. She did not contact family members, no notice of death was placed on RIP.ie and he was unaware if it was published elsewhere, he said. He learned of his uncle’s death from RTÉ in late 2020.

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Mr Lyons said he was not acquainted with, and was unaware of, Ms Thorpe during his uncle’s lifetime. She presumably had a connection with his uncle but he did not know how that arose or how close it was, he said.

Ms Thorpe has told Mr Lyons she has a will of the deceased and is executrix of his estate but she has for almost a year failed to produce any will, or copy of a will, in her possession and has “gone to ground”, Michael Hourican SC, for Ciaran Lyons, told Ms Justice Marguerite Bolger on July 3rd.

By the time Ciaran Lyons learned of his uncle’s death, Ms Thorpe, or unknown persons, appeared to have taken possession of two properties of the deceased, his home at Kilgobbin Heights and another property in Churchtown, Dublin, both in a state of disrepair, counsel said. The front door of his home had been damaged by fire brigade officers called to remove him to hospital.

Mr Lyons is seeking to establish whether his uncle died testate or intestate and who is entitled to a share of, and to administer, his estate.

In his affidavit, he said the indications are Ms Thorpe is exercising a degree of de facto control over the assets of the deceased. It is possible she is perfectly entitled to do so but, to date, no evidence to that effect has been produced and the position is “unsatisfactory”, he said.

Mr Hourican secured orders permitting Mr Lyons to carry out inquiries, search for a will and to identify, gather in and safeguard the assets of the deceased. The orders include requiring two notice parties to the application – Ms Thorpe and Mangan O’Beirne Solicitors, of Morehampton Road, Ranelagh, who previously acted for the deceased – to produce any testamentary documents of the deceased in their possession.

Noting Mr Lyons will update the court on his inquiries, Ms Justice Bolger returned the matter to October.

In his affidavit, Ciaran Lyons said his uncle was a close acquaintance of Gordon Lambert for many years prior to the latter’s death in 2005.

Mr Lambert, who was chairman of W&R Jacob plc, a patron of the arts and a senator in Seanad Éireann, made substantial provision for Anthony Lyons in his will and named him as one of his executors and trustees. After a challenge by Mr Lambert’s family over the will was decided in Mr Lyons’s favour, Mr Lyons attended at his solicitor’s office in 2014 and collected the original of a will he made in 1982 and indicated to his solicitor he intended to make a will. In the event, no will was made with that solicitor and the latter, who had a good relationship with the deceased, believed it was most unlikely he made a will with another solicitor.

After visiting his uncle’s properties, a neighbour passed his phone number to Ms Thorpe who contacted him in July 2022, he said. She told him, inter alia, she was in possession of the deceased’s will and suggested she was the appropriate person to administer the estate but had not yet applied for probate due to difficulty taking up the deeds of the Churchtown property.

She had not forwarded a copy of the will to him, despite agreeing to do so and, as far as he was aware, had taken no steps to administer the estate, Mr Lyons said.