Farmer David Thorner's attempt to inherit the £2 million Somerset farm where he worked unpaid for 30 years went to the House of Lords today.

Mr Thorner, 58, from Wookey, near Wells worked for his father's cousin, Peter Thorner, at Steart Farm, Cheddar, on the understanding that he would inherit the farm and its asset.

Peter Thorner made a will in 1997 which made his intention clear – but he later revoked it and never made another before he died in 2005. Without it his sisters and a niece stood to inherit his entire estate.

A High Court judge ruled Mr Thorner should inherit the farm and Peter Thorner's sisters and niece should share £750,000, but the Appeal Court reversed the decision, awarding the estate to the sisters and niece.

Mr Thorner was in London for the hearing, in which his lawyers asked the Lords to rule he should inherit the farm, as he would have done under the original will.

Papers before the Lords said Mr Thorner gave his relative "unstinting help" over the years. He never received a penny for his work and lived with his parents until they died, surviving on pocket money they gave him.

"The issues are whether the Court of Appeal were justified in reversing a conclusion in favour of Mr Thorner which was arrived at legally and in an entirely conventional way on the High Court judge's findings of fact," said QC John McDonnell.

He claimed Peter Thorner made an unequivocal statement that his cousin would inherit the farm.

"He simply did not get round to making his will before he died," he said.

The Appeal Court judges agreed Peter Farmer intended his cousin to inherit, and that he had a strong moral claim, but that he never actually told Mr Thorner he would get the farm.

The hearing, which continues tomorrow, will focus on complex arguments over the laws of intestacy. No date will be set for the decision over the Somerset farm, but it is likely to be given before Easter.