Lambert estate to pay half the legal costs of relatives who contested will

TWO RELATIVES who brought an unsuccessful challenge to the last will of the late art collector Gordon Lambert are entitled to half of their legal costs from the estate, the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice Roderick Murphy also directed that former RTÉ broadcaster Anthony Lyons, a long-time friend of Mr Lambert who will benefit most from the will, and the executors of the estate should get all of their legal costs out of the estate. The total legal costs of the 13-day action are believed to be substantial.

The judge made further orders yesterday directing that the August 2003 will be admitted to probate. He also directed that a codicil to the will which disinherited any beneficiary who challenged the will should stand.

This means the deceased’s niece and goddaughter June Lambert, Pembroke Lane, Dublin, and his nephew Mark Lambert, Rathdown Park, Greystones, Co Wicklow, who brought the case, cannot claim their inheritances.

The action was against Mr Lyons and two other executors of Mr Lambert’s will – Olive Beaumont, Heytesbury Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin, a trustee of the Gordon Lambert collection and a curator at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and Catherine Marshall, Kevin Street, Dublin.

The judge made final orders in the case after last month rejecting claims by June and Mark Lambert that Mr Lyons exercised undue influence over Gordon Lambert in relation to the making of his last will. No claim of undue influence was made against Ms Beaumont or Ms Marshall.

Mr Lambert, a single man, died in January 2005, aged 86. He had suffered with Parkinson’s disease. Under his last will, Mr Lyons (75), of Churchtown, Dublin, was the main beneficiary.

The will also provided for various legacies to family members, including the plaintiffs, and legacies to Ms Beaumont, Ms Marshall and the Gordon Lambert Charitable Trust at Imma.

One-quarter of the residue was left to certain family members and a further quarter to other family members, with a cap of €100,000 per beneficiary. Three-eighths of the residue was left to Mr Lyons, and one-eighth to Ms Marshall.

The judge noted the realisation of the assets, particularly the value of Mr Lambert’s home in Rathfarnham, exceeded the sum of the schedule of assets prepared by him prior to making his will. A schedule on August 2003 valued his home at €680,000 but it was sold in April 2006 for €4.5 million.