Lynda Bellingham’s sons claim their step-father Michael Pattemore has gained a whopping £5million from their late mother’s estate while they have only been handed £50,000 each.
The children of the actress, Michael and Robbie Peluso, have been at the centre of a bitter family inheritance feud since their famous parent passed in 2014.
Michael, who was married to television star Lynda - known for her part in the Oxo Family TV adverts between 1983 and 1999 and more recently for being a regular on Loose Women - from 2008 to 2014.
The property owner claims he has given the two boys a £750,000 flat from which they earn a monthly income in addition to the two sums of money.
He also said that he had experienced “18 months of hell” as Lynda was apparently in £50,000 debt at the time of her death three years ago.
But Lynda’s grown-up children have hit back, insisting their step-dad’s claims are distorted.
Son Michael told the MailOnline: “It’s a kick in the teeth hearing about his hell when he’s sitting on around £5million of property, much of which was bought with our mum’s money.
“None of mum’s friends or family will speak to him now.”
On the property they’ve been given, he added: “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 Pattermore’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.
“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.”
Soon after Lynda’s death, her sons hit out at their step-parent, claiming he had stopped them from getting their inheritance, adding that they had only seen £750 each of their mother’s money.
They said Michael evicted them from their family home and splashed the cash on expensive trips abroad.
In retaliation, he claimed Lynda had written a will which stated that he should inherit her estate and the two boys would both get a smaller payout.
They claimed that Lynda may not have known what she was signing when the will was made valid as she was suffering the side effects of strong medication.
Michael and Robbie also spoke of their disgust at the older Michael disrespecting their mum after he claimed during a television interview to have slept with her ghost.
But Michael insists he has done nothing wrong and that Lynda would be “rolling in her grave” if she knew the rift between them existed.
During an appearance on This Morning last week, he said: “She would be rolling in her grave (at the thought of the rift). 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 fist email over to our 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.”
Do you think sons Michael and Robbie are in the wrong to criticise their father over his decisions for Lynda’s estate? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.
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