The death of Kentucky bourbon heir Taylor Hay, a descendant of the man regarded as the father of the modern bourbon industry, has sparked a bitter legal dispute between his 61-year-old widow and several of his adult children over control of his estate. The row centres on Scotland Farm, a 145-acre estate near Frankfort, and has drawn in allegations of abuse, fraud and harassment, overshadowing the family's mourning period following Hay's death in February 2025 at the age of 94.

Widow Joanna Hay, a documentary filmmaker and trustee of her late husband's estate, is suing three stepchildren—Douglas, Ambie and Robert Hay—accusing them of orchestrating a campaign of harassment and intimidation to force her to give up her role or a share of a $2.5 million inheritance she says she is owed under the trust and Hay's 2015 will. She alleges the trio sent more than a hundred emails over four months containing false claims, including that she had caused her husband's death by withholding medication, and that they threatened baseless criminal charges against her. Hay's children, in turn, have accused their father of abusing two of his daughters and accused Joanna of trying to secure a larger inheritance; both sides deny the other's allegations, and the case is ongoing in Frankfort Circuit Court.