Poet’s will void due to uncertainty over terms

THE will of the late poet and author John O’Donohue has been declared void by the High Court due to uncertainty over its terms and meaning.

The decision means the entire €2 million estate left by Mr O’Donohue passes to his mother Josie.

Mr O’Donohue, aged 53, author of Anam Cara, died while on holiday in France in January 2008 and his mother, as administrator of his estate, brought proceedings last month to clarify the terms of her son’s one-page will made in 2001.

An urgent hearing was sought on grounds Mrs O’Donohue was terminally ill.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan yesterday concluded he was “unable to decipher the exact meaning” of the will and that Mr O’Donohue had “unfortunately provided an illustration of exactly how a person should not make a will”.

While there was little doubt Mr O’Donohue was “a man of considerable learning”, the fact he did not benefit from legal advice or assistance when preparing his will was evident, the judge said.

The will was deficient due to lack of clarity concerning Mr O’Donohue’s intentions and he also unwittingly made “the classic error” of having two intended beneficiaries of the will — his mother, and brother Patrick — witness his signature, with the effect of depriving both from benefiting as the law provides a witness to a will cannot be a benef-iciary.

In those circumstances, “with regret”, he found that while the will was valid under the 1965 Succession Act and revoked a previous will made in 1998, the terms of the will rendered it void “for uncertainty”.

As a result, the entire estate falls into intestacy, leading to a situation under law where Mrs O’Donohue takes the entire estate, the judge said.

Mr O’Donohue, a former priest, made the will in February 2001, just before he left for a tour of Australia, without the benefit of legal advice.

He is survived by his mother, brothers Patrick and Peter, sister Mary, two nieces and two nephews.