The High Court has decided that £58,857 found in a building society account four years after the death in March 1993 of Mr Patrick Brennan, Ravensdale Road, East Wall, Dublin, who died intestate, should go to his two non-marital sons.
When Mr Brennan died, his cousins, Mr James Fitzsimons and Mr Christopher Fitzsimons, believed they were his next of kin. In May 1994 their solicitors were contacted by Mr Paul O'Hanlon and Mr Christopher O'Hanlon, Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin, who claimed to be Mr Brennan's non-marital children. The money was discovered in September 1997, some years after the Fitzsimonses agreed to accept £60,500 in consideration of withdrawing their opposition to a Circuit Court paternity declaration obtained by the O'Hanlons.
The Fitzsimonses brought a claim that they were entitled to a share of the money. Yesterday, Mr Justice Budd held that in accepting £60,500 in 1994, they had agreed it would be in "full and final settlement" of their claim. The £58,857 will go to the O'Hanlons.