In 1962 Maugham sold a collection of paintings, some of which had already been assigned by deed to his daughter Liza. She sued her father and won a judgment of £230,000. Maugham publicly disowned her; by that time his mental health had deteriorated and been brought into question by his family. In order to break all ties, he claimed that Liza was not his biological daughter, and he adopted Searle as his son and heir, but the adoption was annulled. In his 1962 volume of memoirs "Looking Back", he attacked the late Syrie Maugham and wrote that Liza had been born before they married. The memoir cost him several friends and exposed him to much public ridicule. Liza and her husband Lord Glendevon contested the change in Maugham's will in the French courts, and it was overturned.