An adult adoption involving two lesbian partners has been annulled, putting the adopted woman's claim to a share of the IBM family fortune in jeopardy. Olive Watson, whose father famously took IBM into the computer age adopted her adult partner, Patricia Spado, in Maine, USA, in 1991. But the relationship ended a year after the adoption was approved. In 2005, after Watson's parents had died, the grandchildren became eligible for cash payouts and Spado claimed the adoption therefore made her a beneficiary. Spado and Watson had lived together for 14 years before their breakup, spending only five nights apart. Watson formally advised Spado after their break-up that she would never revoke the adoption, but the other heirs contested Spado's claim to the inheritance and now a judge has ruled the adoption was invalid. The matter will now be appealed before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 10th July 2008 - 1:25am