Margaret Hernon estate dispute settled over disputed will

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A High Court dispute over Margaret Hernon’s purported will was settled, with half of her estate allocated to Peter O’Toole and the other half to more than 40 of her cousins. The settlement was reported on 23 May 2023.

Agustus ‘Gus’ Kelehan, one of the cousins, had challenged the validity of a document said to have been made in 2006 and sought to have it set aside. Under the agreement, the document is not to be formally proven, and Kelehan was appointed representative of Hernon’s next of kin.

The estate included a farmhouse and adjoining farmland at Barnacranny, Bushypark, Galway, land in Athenry and cash. Its value was not agreed by the parties.

The settlement also provided that beneficiaries named in the 2006 document would retain the sums left to them, and that both sides’ legal costs would be paid from the estate.