The estranged wife and girlfriend of a TV and film mogul have gone to war in court over his £29m fortune.
Producer Justin Bodle died in July 2019, aged 58, after suffering a catastrophic stroke while holidaying in the south of France with his long-term partner Lucinda.
Mr Bodle, who played a key role in licensing the TV rights to the The Muppet Show in the UK and produced 2007 disaster movie Flood, as well as a string of other films, left an estate initially valued at £29million – comprising assets including a Chelsea townhouse, his French villa and a sumptuous stately home in Kent, Groombridge Place.
But after expenses and tax, that figure was dramatically cut to £7.1m when his estranged wife and executor Kinga Hazai applied for probate in 2021 of a will which left her everything.
Lucinda Bodle – his partner and mother of his two children, who changed her name to match his by deed poll – is now applying for a multi-million pound payout from his estate as “reasonable provision” to provide for herself and their children.
However Kinga says there is not enough of Justin’s fortune left, claiming it has shrunk even further and there is now only £320,674 to be distributed.
Kinga says this is because of money the estate owed, administration expenses, other payouts and £1m held back due to possible claims by others against the estate.
The two women are now set to face off in court over the money, with lawyers for Lucinda asking exactly how the money was spent and why his former home was sold for less than its original valuation.
But Kinga, 55, claims that Lucinda, 38, was deluded about the extent of her lover’s fortune, insisting his financial affairs were left in “an almighty mess” when he died.
Justin Bodle – hailed by colleagues as a “born dealmaker” – started out selling advertising space after a spell in the Army before going on to forge a career as a media negotiator and then producer.
In 1987, he hammered out the first “barter deal” for The Muppet Show in Europe and was also involved in Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock. Later, he founded his own company, Power Television, producing dramas such as Henry VIII with Ray Winstone. Other screen hits included Flood in 2007, starring Robert Carlyle and Tom Hardy, which focused on an apocalyptic flood engulfing London.
He acquired his iconic Grade-I listed stately mansion, Groombridge Place, pictured below, a 17th century moated Manor House set in 200 acres near Tunbridge Wells, in 2001. The redbrick Jacobean stately home is renowned for its formal gardens and vineyards, and has been used as a location for period movies including The Draughtsman’s Contract and the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice.
After buying it, Justin transformed it into his family home, as well as a mini theme park, complete with pirate ship and mermaid adventures.
At the time of his death, he was in a long-term relationship with Lucinda, by whom he had two children, and she claims their wedding was “around the corner” when tragedy intervened.
However, his 2013 will named his Hungarian lawyer wife, Dr Kinga Hazai – by whom he has an adult daughter Elsa – as the heir to his fortune, London’s High Court heard, leaving Lucinda without a penny under the will.
That will has now sparked a legal clash between the two women, with Lucinda asking for “reasonable financial provision” from his estate under the 1975 Inheritance Act.
Now forced to pay rent on her own home after Groombridge Place was sold, Lucinda has gone to court in a bid to force Kinga to arrange her reasonable provision from Justin’s estate.
Lucinda, who previously earned £38,000-a-year as an executive assistant for Mr Bodle, wants £1.6m cash to cover her and her children’s housing needs, plus enough money – likely to be another seven-figure sum -to invest and generate an income of £9,497 per month.
Kinga and Justin were in the middle of divorcing when he died, claimed Lucinda’s barrister, Edward Hewitt, adding: “Justin and Lucinda had been in a relationship for just under six years at the date of his death and had two children together.”
And although his 2013 will bequeathed his entire estate to Kinga, Mr Hewitt claimed it “did not reflect his testamentary wishes” as it was drawn up before their children were born and some years before he asked her to marry him.
“There can be no doubt that Lucinda has a very strong claim for reasonable financial provision from Justin’s estate,” he said.“
Indeed, Kinga has admitted as much in open correspondence. The only issue between the parties is therefore how much Lucinda should receive.
“Her financial security and that of her and Justin’s two young children depends on the outcome of this claim.”
In a hearing last week, Kinga’s barrister, Sarah Bayliss, disclosed that there are significant doubts over the liquidity of Justin’s estate, which at one point seemed verging on insolvency.
His estate was valued following his death at £29,063,147 gross and £7,113,420 after tax, the court heard, but Ms Bayliss said that the funds available have now dwindled to £320,674.
In reality, Lucinda was deluded about the extent of Justin’s fortune, claimed the barrister, saying his financial affairs were left in “an almighty mess”.
And she told the judge, Master Karen Shuman, “on the one hand we have Lucinda who thought that Justin was a very rich man, but it turned out he was not.
“And on the other hand we have Kinga – his wife at the time of death – who had enough knowledge of Justin and his business dealings to appreciate that things were a very great deal more complicated.”
The judge commented that Justin had a “very affluent lifestyle,” illustrated by trappings such as foreign properties, an expensive Ferrari and high value wine collection, which hinted at “significant wealth behind that”.
But the barrister – who said there was “no allegation of wrongdoing” against Kinga – told the court that “from an early stage Lucinda knew there was a strong chance that the estate was insolvent”.
While accepting that Lucinda “now finds it very hard to believe there’s no money,” she described the current financial position as a “huge pickle” and labelled Justin “an old school entrepreneur who played fast and loose with all sorts of things”.
In terms of providing for Lucinda, Ms Bayliss said she has already received “some funding from the estate,” including a £90,000 cash payout, bereavement support worth £9,000 and rent free accommodation at Groombridge Place.
On top of that, Kinga, as executor, had arranged for payments of about £2million to ensure all three of the kids are well provided for, said Ms Bayliss.
But Mr Hewitt said Lucinda had found it “very difficult to obtain accurate and up-to-date information regarding the estate”.
“The most recent iteration of the estate accounts Kinga has produced appear to show that the sum available for distribution is a mere £320,674,” he said.
“This is after the deduction of various expenses, including some £722,480 which Kinga has purported to charge the estate as her remuneration for acting as executrix.
“Lucinda approaches the figures Kinga has produced with considerable circumspection.”
He said the estate administration expenses put forward at various times had fluctuated from about £1m to now being closer to £2.8m, with £772,480 what “it is understood Kinga has purportedly tried to pay herself as remuneration for acting as executrix.””
At the risk of stating the obvious, £722,480 would have a considerable impact on the net estate and thus on Lucinda’s claim and consequently on her financial security,” he said.
“So the trial judge will be asked to decide whether Kinga is in fact able to charge remuneration for acting as executrix.”
He also noted that Groombridge Place was sold by Kinga on behalf of the estate for £6.75m – £750,000 less than the original valuation – and that it had then been sold for £9m by its new owner 16 months later.
“It’s not clear at this stage whether Kinga can be criticised for selling Groombridge at an undervalue,” said Mr Hewitt.
“However, on their face, the figures are striking and warrant an explanation.”
Kinga insists the sums claimed by Lucinda are excessive – particularly given the threadbare state of Justin’s estate – and is set to dispute it at trial.And she says she fears that Lucinda cannot accept that Justin was not as rich as she thought and that, “no matter how much information she provides, it will never be enough.”
“The reality is that Lucinda thought that the deceased was a very great deal wealthier than in fact he was and will not accept the figures with which she is provided, notwithstanding they have been professionally drawn by respectable accountants,” said her barrister, Ms Bayliss.
His 2013 will had left all of his estate to Kinga, she said, adding: “The will expressly states that this provision is to apply even if he is divorced from Kinga before his death.”Her barrister said Kinga is planning to produce evidence from her 19-year-old daughter, Elsa, as a witness to testify about the relationship between her father and Lucinda.
“The point Lucinda makes is that this was an ideal relationship with marriage around the corner, but Kinga’s position is somewhat different and Elsa’s evidence goes to that,” Ms Bayliss told the judge.In her written submissions, the barrister added that Elsa’s evidence was crucial to assessing Justin’s “obligations and responsibilities and conduct”.
“Elsa’s evidence goes to both matters in that she describes the difficulties of the relationship between Justin and Lucinda and the complex situation in which the family members found themselves following him starting a relationship with her,” she said.
“It’s submitted that Elsa’s statement gives rise to a strong inference that, even if Justin had changed his will before his death he would not have excluded Kinga and Elsa from benefit, nor would he have been justified in doing so.”
The case will return to court at a later date.
