AFTER SHARP exchanges in the High Court yesterday a judge will rule next week who should pay the legal costs of a dispute between convicted killer Eamonn Lillis and representatives of his late wife’s estate over the joint assets of the couple.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy last December ruled, under existing law, Lillis (53) was entitled to his half-interest in assets jointly owned by him and Celine Cawley, including the couple’s family home in Howth, Dublin.
Lillis was convicted of the manslaughter of Ms Cawley (46) at their home in December 2008 and is serving a sentence of six years and 11 months.
Their daughter, Georgia Lillis, and Ms Cawley’s sister Susanna and brother Christopher, as joint executors of Ms Cawley’s estate, had brought proceedings aimed at preventing Lillis securing any interest in around €1 million worth of assets jointly owned by him and his wife.
The assets included the family home at Rowan Hill, Howth, an apartment in Sutton, Dublin, and some €68,000 in investments and bonds.
In her ruling, the judge said she could not conclude Lillis’s share in the joint assets was automatically severed on his wife’s death. She found he was entitled to his share of those assets but must hold one half of them in trust for the estate of Ms Cawley.
Following the ruling, the court heard the parties had come to a confidential agreement.
Yesterday, Brian Spierin SC for the Cawley family and Georgia Lillis, said the parties had agreed a set of questions to be answered by the court in relation to their agreement. They were also granted a declaration to facilitate easier conveyancing of title in the property.
Among the answers given by the court yesterday was that Mr Lillis has a 100 per cent interest in the properties he and his wife jointly held subject to a constructive trust giving a 50 per cent beneficial interest in favour of the Cawley estate.
Mr Spierin asked that the court make no order about costs of the matter and his side would get costs from the estate.
At all times in the litigation, his side had acted in a bona fide way but the same could not be said about the conduct of Mr Lillis, counsel said. A failure to engage with the family side before the proceedings and during the case showed the lack of bona fides by Mr Lillis, he said.
Séamas Ó Tuathail SC, for Lillis, said he was seeking his costs because his side had made an offer of a 50/50 share in the assets in an open letter to the other side six days before the proceedings commenced. It was also proposed in that letter each side would bear their own costs but the offers had been turned down and as a result, the case had to go ahead, he said. A new point of law had had to be decided in this case, counsel added.
Ms Justice Laffoy said she wanted to give the matter some reflection and would give her decision in a week.
The Lillis/Cawley family home is valued at up to €800,000, while the Sutton apartment is worth an estimated €190,000 to €200,000.