Probate disputes: Bitter allegations of broken promises and invalid Wills divide another farming family
A son who started work on the family farm at the age of nine, believing he’d one day inherit it, is locked in a bitter seven-year long inheritance battle with his late father’s second wife.
Adam Scott, 62, claims not only was he promised the farm but that his father Richard also lacked mental capacity when he made his final two Wills in 2016, effectively disinheriting him.
He is challenging their validity and says a previous 1995 Will which granted him a 40-year tenancy and the option to buy the farm at its probate value should stand.
This complex and embittered case has taken many vitriolic turns so far – and it’s not over yet – with both Adam and his stepmother, Jennifer, arguing their corner with hotly contested claim and counter claim.
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 illegitimate children 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 has lodged what is known as a proprietary estoppel claim.
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.
Adam’s barrister told the High Court that there was extensive evidence supporting his claim.
“It came as no surprise to any of the witnesses that Richard promised Adam that he would be able to farm the farm by succession, and that Adam acted in reliance on that promise by dedicating himself to the farm, and by making extraordinary sacrifices in doing so, including the loss of his marriage and the loss of family holidays and other time with his children,” she said.
Jennifer’s barrister, however, said that Adam had been amply compensated for his years of arduous work by being handed land and property worth £10 million by his father before his death as well as a series of substantial gifts.
“Adam relies on a number of alleged statements made by Richard as assurances. Any statements made by Richard in Adam’s early years were not sufficiently clear statements intended to be taken seriously. Adam himself states that ‘when I was young it was just a hope…’,” said the barrister.
“Richard was an inherently unreliable character, whose track record was of breaking promises.”
The legal proceedings are ongoing.
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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.
Wards Solicitors has recently been named Regional Law Firm of the Year by Bristol Law Society and our Wills, Probate and Mental Capacity team has scooped the Devon and Somerset Law Society’s Private Client Team of the Year.
We are also praised by the Legal 500 Guide 2025 for our extensive probate disputes presence across the South West advising on contentious estate administration matters, Court of Protection issues and challenges to the validity of Wills with a large roster of clients.