The High Court in London ruled on Wednesday in favor of Jennifer Scott, former housekeeper and widow of British garage sale magnate Richard Scott, at the end of a legal battle against her stepson Adam Scott.
The latter demanded a share of the family fortune, estimated at 43 million pounds sterling – or a little more than 79 million Canadian dollars – but the court ruled in favor of the widow.
Richard Scott, who died in 2018 at age 81, built his wealth by organizing one of the UK’s largest flea markets on his farm in Cheshire, reports the Daily Mail.
Father of 19 children, he had excluded his favorite son Adam from his last wishes after marrying his cleaning lady 28 years younger than him.
Adam Scott claimed that his father, suffering from dementia, was no longer able to write his wills and that he had promised him the family farm.
Photo ADOBE STOCK
Judge Richard Richards, however, considered that this decision was not linked to mental illness, but to “the character of a man who hated to be contradicted”, indicates the British media.
The magistrate also rejected the argument based on the promise of inheritance, ruling that the son of the late tycoon had already received more than £10 million (18.4 million Canadian dollars) in property and land before his father’s death.
