Son sues for ‘£43m inheritance' after father left it to former cleaner
Richard Scott, who died aged 81 in 2018, made a fortune running the UK's second biggest boot fair from his 'vast' Cheshire farm, where ITV's Car Boot Challenge was filmed.
Adam Scott, Mr Scott's eldest son, said he sacrificed 40 years of his life to work on the farm from the age of nine and was promised it would be his to inherit.
Richard remarried in 2016 to his former cleaner Jennifer Scott, who was 28 years his junior.
He then wrote Adam out of his will and left Jennifer in control of his 'huge quantity of land', officially valued at about £7 million, but which she believes could be worth up to £43 million based on offers.
Adam, 62, is suing his stepmother, 60, the executor of Richard's estate, as he claims his father was not in his right mind when he signed his two final wills.
Richard had 19 children, 'all of whom had expectations of inheritance', fathering six with his first wife, six illegitimate children during that relationship, and a further seven with Jennifer, who was his cleaner when the pair began their relationship in 1994.
The couple married in 2016, but the ceremony was disrupted by Adam who said his father did not have the capacity to marry owing to his dementia.
Adam's lawyers said he had been in line to inherit the 'vast' farm on the basis that he would pay the probate value of the land, leading his other siblings to be 'provided for either by rental income or a lump sum paid'.
But after his second marriage in 2016, Richard signed the two wills which disinherited Adam and left Jennifer as executor and a major beneficiary.
Jennifer's two sons, Gordon and William Redgrave-Scott, and Adam's sister Rebecca Horley were also made beneficiaries.
Constance McDonnell KC, Adam's lawyer, said he seeks the provisions of his father's will from 23 June 1995, which granted him 'a 40-year tenancy of his father's farm and an option to purchase the farm at its probate value'.
She said the evidence supporting Adam's claim about the promises is 'very extensive' and that the judge would need to decide whether his dad going back on them was 'unconscionable.'
The barrister added that Richard had been diagnosed with a form of dementia in 2011 that had eroded his capacity to 'make decisions' and left him almost 'incapable of speaking' by 2016.
Alex Troup KC, representing Jennifer, said Richard had good reasons for cutting his son out of the will after he tried to have him sectioned through social services in September 2013.
In July 2015, Adam made a further complaint to social services that his father was abusing Jennifer and his children. The case was investigated and closed.
Mr Troup said: 'Richard was angry with Adam for reporting him to social services and their relationship deteriorated as a result.'
The barrister said Adam had already been handed land and property worth over £10 million by his father before he died.
He said: 'Adam was rewarded for his work, including by Richard making lifetime gifts to him of substantial parcels of land, which have proved to be extremely valuable.'
The trial continues.
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