The revelation came shortly before his death, leaving the five biological children facing an unexpected inheritance dispute over an estate worth approximately £461,000. A court subsequently awarded £170,000 to the two brothers based on their financial needs. Three siblings were shocked to discover that their late father had fathered two children during a decades-long relationship he had kept secret from his wife and their family. As neither parent had made a will, the estate was initially set to be divided equally among all five children under England’s intestacy rules. However, two of the three siblings challenged the arrangement, arguing that their father’s estate included money inherited from their late mother, who had not known about his other relationship.
How the family discovered their father’s secret relationship
The case involved Michael Gymer, who died in 2020 at the age of 83, just months after his wife, Julie, who was 81. Gregory and Lee brought their claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which allows eligible people to ask a court to reconsider an estate’s distribution if they believe reasonable financial provision has not been made for them. The couple had three children together: Shelley, Gregory and Lee.
After considering the circumstances and the financial needs of the five children, the judge ordered that £170,000 be returned to Julie’s estate and divided between Gregory and Lee. Following the ruling, Gregory and Lee were each expected to receive approximately £143,000, including their additional awards of around £85,000. Their sister Shelley, along with their father’s two children from the secret relationship, Charlotte and Joseph, were each expected to receive approximately £58,000.
The dispute, therefore, was not about whether Charlotte and Joseph were Michael’s biological children or whether they were entitled to inherit from him. Because the judge found that she did not have the same financial need, their sister Shelley did not receive an additional award. Because of the court’s additional provision for their financial needs, this meant all five children retained a share of Michael’s estate, but Gregory and Lee received larger portions.
The figures were rounded, and The Times reported that the precise distribution was to be finalised in a subsequent court order. However, the court rejected this argument, finding no convincing evidence that Julie knew about the affair or the existence of the two children. Beverley Madden had reportedly claimed that Julie knew about the relationship, but the judge was not persuaded by her account. The judge described all five children as innocent of their father’s deception. It centred on whether the original equal division adequately provided for Gregory and Lee, given the circumstances surrounding the money their father had inherited from Julie.