A tricky estate planning case

In 1991 Olive Watson, then 43, adopted her lesbian lover Patricia Spado, who was 44. The adoption took place in Maine, where there were few obstacles to adult adoption at that time. Olive was financially secure, while Patricia was not; the adoption was evidently intended to create inheritance rights for Patricia. It's not clear that either of them had any idea just what sort of inheritance they were creating.

Olive is the daughter of Thomas Watson, Jr., son of the founder of IBM and himself the IBM President from 1952 to 1971. His estate plan included a trust for his surviving spouse for life, with remainder interests for the couple's grandchildren. Not at all remarkable, until the adult adoption comes into play.

Olive and Patricia are no longer together—in fact, they broke up a year after the adoption. The surviving spouse died in 2004, and Patricia is now pressing her claim for a share of the trust, arguing that she remains a grandchild under the law. Reportedly, millions of dollars are at stake. The Watson family is attempting to have the adoption annulled in Maine on the grounds that neither Olive nor Patricia were Maine residents at the time and such adoptions were not then legal in their home states; gay rights groups are supporting Patricia.

Watson died in 1993, two years after the adoption. If he knew about the adoption, and objected to Patricia as an heir, he could have and should have amended the plan. However, his understanding of the arrangement hasn't been included in the news reports, and it's similarly unclear whether Olive fully understood the financial magnitude of her gesture.