Reality Star Fined £2 Million After Losing Inheritance Battle

Lonan O'Herlihy, a reality television personality from Made in Chelsea, has been ordered to pay an 'astronomical' £2 million legal bill after losing a High Court case. The case concerned a £38 million estate left by his mother's former partner, Hugh Taylor, who died in 2019. O'Herlihy, who claimed Mr. Taylor was a father figure and sought £5 million from the estate under the Inheritance Act 1975, had his claim dismissed by a judge. The judge ruled that the case had 'no real prospect of success' and had been filed more than four years too late. Mr. Taylor's widow, Jennifer, successfully argued that O'Herlihy's claim was 'opportunistic' and driven by greed, rather than a need for reasonable provision. Any expectation of inheritance was dispelled by a 2012 email from Mr. Taylor disavowing responsibility for O'Herlihy. The court determined that O'Herlihy, who earns around £90,000 annually from his training business, is capable of sustaining an appropriate standard of living through his own work. The judge ordered O'Herlihy to pay a significant portion of the £2 million legal costs, including fees for Mrs. Taylor's lawyers and the estate administrator, as well as his own legal team's expenses.