Dumbledore Actor’s Wife to Inherit £1.5million Fortune
The past few weeks succession planning has been a hot topic at the lunch table. Michael Gambon, of Dumbledore fame, apparently left his £1.5M estate to his wife.
Sounds normal? Well, the gossip mill was turning as Michael has publicly had a Girlfriend (AKA Mistress, depending on who you’re speaking to) for the past 20 years. He even shares two children, aged 17 and 15 with his Girlfriend, Philippa Hart. The actor famously split his time between his wife, Anne Gambon, of 61 years and his long-term girlfriend Hart.
As well as his two children with Hart, Gambon shares a 60-year-old son with his wife. He drew up his Will in 2016 and listed his wife, and their son Fergus, as executors for the document. If his wife died before him, his £1,465,882 fortune was to be left to Fergus. His two children with Hart received £10,000 each and a trophy according to the Will. And Hart appears to have been left with nothing.
Will Dumbledore Actor’s Girlfriend Inherit Anything?
Although this sounds scandalous, it’s important to remember that a person’s Will doesn’t necessarily give us the entire picture of their estate. Pension benefits, trusts and lifetime gifts are often put in place along with the Will to ensure that family and loved ones are looked after following your passing. An Expression of Wish (or nomination) form is a plan for what happens to your pension. In the form, you can state who you would prefer to be the beneficiary of your pension, if you die before the fund has been used. It’s important to note that your pension administrator will have the final say on what happens to the pot, but they will take your nominated beneficiaries into account when making this decision.
So in short, no, it seems highly likely that Gambon’s estate was in order and he left the love(s) of his life and all his children well looked after. We never thought it would be an 82-year-old that got us discussing the complex nature of modern relationships vs old-school next-of-kin successions, but it’s a magical world we live in.