Two heterosexual Irish men marry to avoid inheritance tax

Two heterosexual Irish men have married in Dublin to avoid paying €50,000 inheritance tax on a house.

Matt Murphy, 83, wanted to leave his house to his best friend and carer Michael O'Sullivan, 58, after he died.

The duo decided to get married after they discovered how much tax would have to be paid on the house, reported the Guardian.

Murphy could not afford to pay O'Sullivan as a carer, thereby "he was to leave me the house," said O'Sullivan, "He said he would give me the house so I have somewhere to live when he goes."

However, given the huge tax bill that would have to be paid on the house, it meant, the house would have to be sold.

O'Sullivan stated that Murphy "was chatting a friend down the country in Cashel, Co Tipperary, and she jokingly said we should get married."

"Then one night he turned around and said it to me and I said I would marry him," he added.

The marriage is "perfectly lawful", as the former minister for justice and attorney general Michael McDowell told The Irish Times.

While, it is Murphy's first marriage, O'Sullivan was formerly married to a woman.