If a child is adopted by stepfather does she still have claim to biological father's estate?
Full Question:
Mother and father divorce. Mother remarries. Stepfather adopts child. Does the child have an interest or legal right to be beneficiary of her original father's assets if he dies without a will or do the assets go to the state? There are no other possible beneficiaries.
03/01/2007 |
Category: Wills and Estates |
State: California |
#765
Answer:
In case of adoption by unrelated persons, the general rule is that there is a termination of the adopted individual's legal ties with his or her natural parents for purposes of intestate succession. California appears to follow this general rule. A California Appellate Court recently held, “An order terminating parental rights terminates the parental duty of support, and it also terminates all rights of the parent in and to the child as well as the rights of the child in and to the parent.” Kalesha S. Jackson v. Terrence Fitzgibbons (2005)