former cleaner wins £43m inheritance battle
A protracted inheritance dispute has concluded with a former cleaner securing the bulk of her late employer’s estate after a legal battle in the UK. The case involved Richard Scott, a self-made businessman once dubbed the “car-boot king” for running a large car-boot fair and building up a substantial property portfolio in Cheshire. He died in 2018 at the age of 81.
Richard Scott, who fathered 19 children, had been married previously and later, in 2016, wed Jennifer Scott his former cleaner, nearly 28 years his junior. Following the marriage, he changed his will to leave the majority of his estate to Jennifer and her sons, effectively disinheriting his eldest son, Adam Scott, who had spent decades working on the family farm and expected to inherit the business.
Adam contested the will and the 2016 marriage, arguing that his father lacked the mental capacity due to dementia, and that Jennifer had exerted undue influence. He claimed that promises had been made to him when he was young, including farming the land and inheriting the business, but that those promises were not honoured.
The High Court ruled in favour of Jennifer, upholding the validity of Scott’s later will and rejecting Adam’s claims of undue influence and lack of capacity. The judge described Richard’s decision to alter his will as the product of his longstanding personality rather than incapacity, and found that Adam had not suffered a legal detriment that could ground proprietary estoppel. The estate in question is estimated at around £43 million, based on land value and development potential.
In the end, the former cleaner, Jennifer Scott, emerged victorious and will control the substantial estate, despite the challenge from her stepson. The case highlights the complexities of inheritance law when longstanding family expectations clash with later changes in wills, marriage, and mental‐capacity issues.
