Boyzone star Stephen Gately died without leaving a will, it has emerged.
Probate records show that the singer, who died at his holiday home in Majorca last October, left £3,308,670 in the United Kingdom. After liabilities, this figure was reduced to £1,489,820.
The records disclose that the 33-year-old did not draw up a will, leading to his estate being shared out according to intestacy rules. It means his civil partner Andrew Cowles will inherit nearly £1 million, and the rest will go to his parents in Dublin.
Cowles (32) reportedly stated last year that he would not accept any money left to him and wanted the entire estate to go to the singer’s family or favourite charities.
It was also reported shortly after Gately’s death that Cowles believed the singer had drawn up a will and kept it at a London law firm. But a search failed to find any solicitors that had a will, and friends later suggested the singer had probably not written one.
The rules which apply in Britain when someone dies intestate in state that the first £450,000 of an estate should go to a person’s spouse or civil partner. If they have no children, the rest is divided up equally with half going to the spouse or partner and the other half going to surviving parents.
It is not known if Dublin-born Gately had other assets in Ireland or other countries which did not feature in his UK estate.
If the singer had left everything to his civil partner in a will, then his entire estate would have been free of inheritance tax. The tax still does not have to be paid on the share inherited by Cowles - but it will have to be paid on the portion that goes to his parents.
Gately joined Boyzone in 1993 after answering an audition advert in Dublin The band were hugely successful, enjoying six number one singles before splitting up in 2000 and making a comeback in 2007.
He later had three solo top 20 singles and took theatre roles including the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Gately came out as gay ten years ago. He met Cowles through Sir Elton John. The pair had a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and became civil partners at a ceremony in London in March 2006.