It has been revealed that he left only £2000 in his will, surely he must've been worth a few bob, could he have stashed it away somewhere to keep the tax man off his back, any thoughts on this?
He clearly did the right thing and salted his money away so that the taxman did not have the opportunity to lay claim to it under any circumstances. We all have a duty to do that. He need not have worried about provision for his wife as no inheritance tax is payable on estates left to a spouse. But he clearly wanted to take no chances.
I think we under estimate the financial pressures people have. Because a person is famous does not mean he is well off. Tim may have scrapped through financially like a lot do.
I imagine there will be assets in joint names with his wife which will have passed by survivorship and will not be shown on the Grant of Probate. It is also possible that he made lifetime settlements into trusts which will also not be shown or lifetime gifts. Trusts are not terribly tax efficient these days, but they do stop the nosey press from finding out too much!
He obviously had very good legal and financial advisors and acted on their recommendations. My dad didn't. There are many legal ways to benefit your nearest and dearest.