IBM Fortune at Stake in Gay Adoption Case

PORTLAND, ME -- In 1991 Olive F. Watson, daughter of former IBM boss Thomas J. Watson Jr, wanted to provide her longtime partner of 14 years Patricia A. Spado with some financial security so she went to court and legally adopted her.

The women ended their relationship just a year later and now the adoption is playing out in a complex legal dispute in Maine courtrooms. Watson, Spado and the Watson estate are battling in court over whether Spado is entitled to a share of the late Thomas Watson's estate, Maine Sunday Telegram reports.

Watson's lawyers claim Olive Watson paid Spado about $500,000 to release the family from any rights Spado would have gained through the adoption. However, a document signed by Watson shortly after their breakup says that Watson would not initiate any action to annul the adoption.

The Watson family trust filed a motion to annul the adoption in 2005 and a judge granted the motion on a technicality. However, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court last week overturned the ruling and sent the case back to Probate Judge Carol Emery with instructions to judge the case on its merits.

Adult adoption is rare in Maine but sometimes occurs when an adult child wants to take the name and formalize a bond with a stepparent or to create inheritance rights between unrelated people.