Irish radio and television star Gerry Ryan left more than €1.3m in assets to his estranged wife Morah, but his partner Melanie Verwoerd won’t get a cent.
These revelations come just over a year after Ryan’s death. The broadcaster died after taking cocaine in April last year and did not change his will after he separated from Morah, the mother of his five children and his wife for 26 years.
According to the Independent, documents lodged in the probate office show that Ryan's last will and testament was made on November 13, 1992, and gives a current value for his estate of €1,333,921.
The 43-year-old Verwoerd, who recently told the Irish Independent that her life was “hell” without Gerry, was not invited to the church service, which marked the anniversary of his death last month.
Sending flowers instead, Verwoerd said in a statement: "My children and I have not received an invite to the Mass. I wish to commemorate Gerry in my own personal way and have made arrangements to do so privately."
A few days after the service, a wooden bench with a simple bronze plaque was placed under a cherry blossom tree in the middle of Herbert Park, where Verwoerd and Ryan had often sat together.
Verwoerd, who had been in a relationship with Ryan for two years at the time of his death, has said that she was completely unaware of his drug used and was visibly shocked when details of his cocaine use emerged at this inquest last year.
No further details of Ryan's estate are outlined in the public documents, although it is believed that the family home on Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3, makes up most of its value. The cream-fronted five-bedroom period house is believed to be worth just €850,000.
Ryan and his wife Morah confirmed in March 2008 that they had split "with regret" after 26 years of marriage. The couple had five children, Lottie (24), Rex (21), Bonnie (18), Elliot (13), and Babette (10).
Ryan was found dead at his apartment on Upper Leeson Street in Dublin on April 30, 2010. An inquest found that cocaine use was likely to have triggered the cardiac arrhythmia that caused his death.
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