As many of you will know, in the wake of Lynda Bellingham’s death in 2014, her sons Michael and Robbie fell out with her husband Michael Pattemore over the inheritance she had left them.
They accused their step father of not fulfilling their mother’s wishes and had deprived them of their inheritance, saying they had only seen £750 each of their mother’s huge fortune, that he had evicted them from their family home and spent the late star’s cash on lavish holidays.
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The sons also claimed Michael had told them she had written a will leaving everything to him and that he has so far only given them a tiny cash handout.
However, last week speaking on This Morning, Lynda’s widower said he had given the boys at £750, 000 flat which they would be receiving a monthly income from, as it’s rented out.
Michael says Lynda would be heartbroken if she knew they had fallen out the way they have.
“She would be rolling in her grave [at the thought of the rift],” he said.
“I think there’s a puppeteer pulling their strings. They thought there was a huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but there wasn’t.
“I’ve given them a flat. Their first email over to our email lawyer was: ‘My boys wanted a roof over their head.’ I’ve supplied them with a roof over their head and now they want it sold.
“She specifically wanted that I leave them the first million and then divide the rest up between our four children – my two kids and hers.”
He also explained that when she died, the former Loose Women panellist was £50,000 in debt but had money tied up in properties worth millions.
“I’ve had 18 months of hell… she was £50,000 in debt,” he told Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Homes.
“That’s a fact. Across bank accounts and credit cards. Even though she was in debt, we had properties worth several million pounds. Those properties are all in mortgage and they bring an income in now.
“What the boys never told the nation was that in my will, they got left the first one million pounds plus a quarter share of the remainder of the properties.
“They could’ve walked away with a couple million pounds.”
But Lynda’s sons have now hit back at Michael and accused him of twisting the truth.
“It’s a kick in the teeth hearing about his hell when he’s sitting on around £5 million of property, much of which was bought with our mum’s money,” son Michael told the MailOnline.
“None of Mum’s friends or family will speak to him now.”
On the subject of the flat they have been given, he said: “The flat has a £576,000 mortgage on it. Under the terms of the agreement, we have to sell it within two years. We aren’t allowed to live in it.
“It has tenants until next July and when we sell it, we have to pay Pattemore’s £30,000 capital gains tax.
“We owe our lawyers £60,000, so we’re looking at walking away with less than £50,000 each.
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“But this was never about the money – it’s about the fact that our mum trusted him to look after us, and that hasn’t happened.
“At least we’re finally nearer to the point where we can have nothing more to do with him.”