The fortune of a multimillionaire car boot king who fathered 19 children is at the centre of a £43m family will fight. Richard Scott, who died aged 81 in 2018, made his fortune running the UK's second biggest boot fair from his Cheshire farm, where ITV's 'Car Boot Challenge' was filmed.
Mr Scott's eldest son Adam, 62, says he sacrificed his life working on the farm from age nine, promised it would be his. But after Richard remarried in 2016 to former cleaner Jennifer Scott, 28 years his junior, he wrote Adam out of his will, leaving Jennifer in control of the estate, now valued at up to £43m.
Adam is suing his stepmother as executor, claiming his father was not of sound mind when signing his final wills. He also alleges his father promised him the farm, and he relied on that promise to his detriment. However, Jennifer's lawyers argue Richard knew what he was doing after Adam's relationship with his father broke down when Adam tried to have him sectioned.
The High Court heard Richard fathered 19 children: six with his first wife, six illegitimate during that relationship, and seven with Jennifer. The couple married in 2016 despite Adam's attempt to block the wedding on grounds of his father's mental capacity, which was confirmed by registrars.
Adam's lawyers say he spent over 40 years running the farm and car boot sales, expecting to inherit the land by paying probate value for distribution among siblings. But Richard's 2016 wills disinherited Adam, leaving Jennifer as executor and major beneficiary, along with her sons and Adam's sister. Adam challenges the wills' validity and brings a proprietary estoppel claim.
