Probate disputes and proprietary estoppel: A bitter seven-year inheritance battle finally comes to an end for one farming family

A wealthy father who once promised his son the family farm but later changed his mind was quite within his rights to do so, the High Court has ruled.

The court – which also dismissed challenges to Richard Scott’s final two Wills by his son Adam – finally brings to an end seven years of embittered legal dispute and family acrimony.

It comes as the number of people disputing a loved one's Will continues to rise with farming family disputes – often particularly acrimonious and protracted – no exception, although the majority of cases are settled out of court.

• Wards Solicitors' Contentious Trusts and Probate Teamcan provide specialist advice if you’d like to contest or defend a Will. Every case needs to be looked at on an individual basis and time limits also apply.

What is the background to this bitter farming inheritance dispute?

Richard Scott died at the age of 81 in 2018 leaving an estate valued at £7 million but potentially worth as much as £43 million based on private offers.

He had 19 children – six with his first wife, six children from other relationships and seven with his second wife, Jennifer, after starting a relationship with her in 1994 while she was working as his cleaner.

A successful businessman, he made his name running large car boot sales from his Cheshire farm with his oldest son, Adam, working side-by-side with him over the years.

In 2016, after the death of his first wife, he married Jennifer Scott, 28 years younger than him and much against Adam’s wishes.

Adam claimed his father, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2011, did not have the capacity either to get married again or to make the two further Wills in 2016.

Jennifer argued that Richard had valid reasons for excluding Adam, claiming he was angry that his son had disrupted the wedding as well as attempting to have him sectioned and reporting him to social services for allegedly abusing Jennifer and the children.

These claims were investigated and dismissed but created a deep rift between father and son.

What is the ‘broken promise’ part of this inheritance battle?

Adam lodged what is known as a proprietary estoppel claim on the basis he’d worked hard on the family firm since the age of nine believing he’d one day inherit it.

Proprietary estoppel can be used to stop someone reneging on a promise or assurance, however informally made, when that assurance was relied upon by the other person to their detriment.

It hinges on being able to prove the person bringing the claim had reasonable grounds for believing they would one day inherit property or land. As a result of relying on this assurance, they were left at a disadvantage.

What did the judge decide in this proprietary estoppel case?

Mr Justice Richards concluded that after meeting and marrying Jennifer and having more children, Richard decided he no longer wanted to stand by the promises made to Adam in the mid-1990s and that these were properly withdrawn.

Adam was by this time a wealthy man himself from having worked on the farm for so long. Crucially, this meant he had not suffered a net detriment.

The court also upheld the validity of Richard’s last two Wills after hearing medical evidence that despite speech difficulties linked to his dementia, he had full mental capacity at the time.

Bearing in mind Adam had tried to prevent his father’s marriage to Jennifer, tried to section him and reported him to social services, excluding him from his Will was found to be rational.

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Careful succession planning and the execution of a well-drafted Will can minimise the chance of this type of distressing dispute occurring. Please contact our highly experienced Wills, Probate and Mental Capacity team for help in how to do this.

If you want to contest or defend a Will, please contact Wards Solicitors’ Contentious Trusts and Probate Team.

Our lawyers are members of the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS), the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (previously Solicitors for the Elderly) and the Law Society’s Probate Panel. All demand an elevated level of expertise and up to date knowledge from their members.

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