Spado-Watson Update

In 1991, Olive Watson adopted her same-sex partner, Patricia Spado.  By doing so, Olive made Patricia her “child” so that she would be able to inherit from her upon Olive’s death.

In 2004, Olive’s father’s widow died triggering trusts which provide distributions to Olive’s father’s grandchildren.  Patricia, as an adopted grandchild, is claiming that she is entitled to a share of the trust.

However, the relationship between Olive and Patricia is no longer harmonious and Olive’s family is attempting to set aside the adoption by claiming that the proceeding was somehow fraudulent, e.g., that Patricia lied about her state of residence or that she deceived the court about the adoption by not telling the court about her sexual relationship with Olive.

This case is receiving national attention because the family consists of the descendants of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of I.B.M.

On April 24, 2008, a probate judge granted the family’s request to annul the adoption on the residency issue.  The ruling was sealed and was just recently revealed.

Spado has filed an appeal with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.  She is arguing that the adoption should not be annulled because the adoption existed for over 14 years without dispute.  The court may hear the case as early as this fall.

See Jerry Harkavy, Heir’s adoption of lesbian lover annulled in Maine, SFGate.com, July 7, 2008.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) and Sara Hudman (J.D. 2008, Texas Tech University School of Law) for bringing this development to my attention.