A judge has handed the housing and homelessness charity Shelter the £4 million fortune of comedian Sean Hughes, after almost a decade of delay caused by a homemade will.
The stand up comic (pictured alongside one of his three properties) died in 2017 aged 51, leaving his £1.8 million north London home and two other properties worth a combined £2.15 million to Shelter. The dispute arose after his homemade will included imprecise wording, leaving the High Court to decide on the interpretation of wording in the will, in which Hughes said he left “my three houses to Shelter”.
Hughes had used an online platform to draft his will without legal assistance. The ambiguity centred on the fact one of the properties was owned by him, while two others were in the name of a company of which he was the only shareholder. Hughes had never married and, although his family agreed that the shares in the company and therefore the properties should go to Shelter, the case was referred to a judge.
Following a short hearing conducted via video link, the Master Iain Pester in the High Court concluded that the “correct construction of the will” was that the shares pass to Shelter. Had he declared otherwise, the two houses would have gone into his residuary estate to be held in trust for his wider family.
Barrister Aidan Briggs, for the executor of his will, and Alexander Learmonth KC for Shelter, said Hughes’ family and the charity both agreed that Shelter was the correct beneficiary.
Andy Harris, Shelter’s director of income generation, said:
“Sean Hughes was a passionate supporter of Shelter’s work and we are enormously grateful for the generous gift left in his will. We have worked closely with Sean’s family to ensure his wishes are honoured.
“Gifts left in wills are a vital source of income for Shelter. This donation will enable us to continue to deliver expert support and advice to people impacted by the housing emergency and to campaign for everyone’s right to a safe and secure home.”
Hughes’ former home in Glasslyn Road, Crouch End, and two more in nearby Edison Avenue and Elder Avenue, will now go to the charity.
Hughes was born in Archway, north London, to Irish parents, but spent most of his youth living at his paternal grandmother’s house in Dublin. He began appearing at the Comedy Store venue in 1987, before winning the Perrier Comedy Award in 1990 for A One-Night Stand with Sean Hughes. He fronted the Channel 4 series Sean’s Show in 1992 before becoming a fixture on the BBC’s longrunning Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
He died after suffering a cardiac arrest in October 2017.
