The late Dublin solicitor and property developer Ivor Fitzpatrick, who gave his name to one of Ireland’s most prominent law firms, left an estate valued at more than €46 million.
Fitzpatrick remained managing partner of Ivor Fitzpatrick & Co, the firm he founded in 1981, until his death in 2024 following an illness.
According to papers published by the Probate Office this week, Fitzpatrick died “intestate”, that is, without making a will.
An application by a financial fund for a limited grant of probate in the estate of deceased Dublin solicitor and property developer Ivor Fitzpatrick came before the High Court last month.
READ MORE
Barrister Stephen Spierin, for Fitzpatrick’s wife, Susan, a notice party to the case, told the court he expected a full grant of probate to issue within weeks, rendering the fund’s application unnecessary.
A full grant of administration is understood to have since been executed.
The high-profile solicitor, who died on March 24th, 2024, aged 68, was reputed to be worth about €100 million at the time of his death.
Fitzpatrick was involved in substantial property developments. He lived for many years in the 19th century Castle Howard near Avoca in Co Wicklow, from where, during the Celtic Tiger, he commuted to Dublin by helicopter.
He was a member of a syndicate that bought the Christina O yacht, formerly owned by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
Fitzpatrick was a long-time supporter and friend of the late taoiseach Charles Haughey. His firm also represented the late Brigid McCole and others adversely affected by the hepatitis C blood contamination scandal.
Throughout his career, Fitzpatrick was known to make much of the undoubted wealth at his disposal; his shooting parties at the estate were known for lavish hospitality.
Castle Howard had previously been home to the Earl of Wicklow and later to Paul Gallagher of the Gallagher family, prominent property developers in the 1960s and 1970s.
[ Ivor Fitzpatrick obituary: High-profile Dublin solicitor with an eye for a dealOpens in new window ]
Fitzpatrick associated with many of the State’s most prominent figures and acted for former taoiseach Charles Haughey during the investigations by the McCracken and Moriarty tribunals.
The former taoiseach remained, in Fitzpatrick’s eyes, a “chieftain” to be admired, despite any tribunal findings against him.
He was also associated with some of the country’s noted property developers, among them Paddy McKillen, Johnny Ronan and Pat Doherty. Other business partners and law clients included Robert Pino Harris and Dermot Desmond.
He was credited with putting together a syndicate to buy the Christina O, which had hosted Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy, Frank Sinatra and opera singer Maria Callas.
Fitzpatrick was the second of three children born to Seán Ivor Fitzpatrick and Carmel Horan on Dublin’s North Circular Road in 1955. His father was a member of the RAF and the Irish Air Corps before joining Aer Lingus and later assisting with the foundation of Aer Rianta.
The family moved to Terenure in south Dublin when Ivor was four, and it wasn’t long before his entrepreneurial flair became evident. When he was still in primary school, he and a friend began selling refurbished bikes.
On Fitzpatrick’s death, Ivor Fitzpatrick & Co Solicitors described him as “an enormously charismatic individual who was held in the highest esteem by everyone he worked with through the years”.
