Daughters cut out of father's will win right to stud farm
A long-running legal battle over the inheritance of a £1m stud farm was resolved when a judge ruled that it could not be bequeathed to two farm workers.
A contentious will from the owner of the 250-acre Collin Stud, near Newmarket, Suffolk, has pitted his two daughters against the supposed beneficiaries, who both worked at the stud.
In rejecting an appeal by the manager, Robin Sharp, and head groom, Malcolm Bryson - the two men initially meant to have been the beneficiaries - Lord Justice May ruled yesterday that Neil Adam was not of sound mind when he left his will in 2001.
The ruling upholds a High Court decision last July, which overturned the will and handed the property to Mr Adam's daughters, Grace and Emma Adam. They had been cut out of the will at a time when multiple sclerosis had left Mr Adam paralysed and only able to communicate by nodding, winking and shaking his head.
Gilead Cooper, acting for Mr Sharp, 45, and Mr Bryson, 40, had told the three appeal judges, headed by the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, that six doctors, two lawyers and six lay witnesses had testified that Mr Adam was fully competent to make a will.
However Lord Justice May, giving the ruling, said that by 2001, Mr Adam's disease had progressed to the stage of "extreme physical debilitation". He died in 2003, aged 70.
Although experts had given evidence that Mr Adam's mental capacity had not been affected, several of the drugs he was taking could cause drowsiness, mood change and confusion, said the judge.
He said that Mr Adam was in the final stages of a "severely debilitating progressive multiple sclerosis" and it was agreed that this had impaired his mental powers. The question was whether he had crossed "an imprecise divide" by the time he made his last will in which he left everything to the two men he believed would be able to continue running the stud he founded and loved.
"Those most closely associated with caring for him and those who prepared and attended the execution of his will firmly believed that he had not. Yet Mr Adam made a will which was in part irrational."
He added: "Leaving the residuary estate to Mr Sharp and Mr Bryson was entirely understandable. Leaving nothing at all to his daughters was not."
The three judges dismissed the men's appeal. The parties, who did not attend court, have agreed to pay their own costs.
After Mr Adam's death, Emma, 40, a qualified vet who is studying equine surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, and Grace, an artist, 42, of Holloway, north London, claimed that a 1997 will, in which he left them the stud, should stand. A judge ruled last July that there had been " temporary poisoning of his natural affection for his daughters". He added that he realised that his decision would be hard on Mr Sharp and Mr Bryson, both of whom worked for Mr Adam since leaving school.
At the time of the ruling, Emma said: "We want to continue running the stud as a going concern because it's what dad wanted us to do. It's all he ever wanted."
Emma Adam described her father, a former vet, as "an amazing man, a liberal thinker and very talented".
Mr Adam became a racehorse trainer in the early 1970s and his successes included winning the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp for two years running with Gentilhombre. He built up the stud at Stetchworth, three miles from Newmarket, and built a detached three-bedroom home on the property, which is occupied by Mr Bryson.