How Does Adoption Affect Probate Cases?

Many people who were adopted from foster care when they were in their infancy remember feeling a sense of relief at formalizing a permanent family situation after years of uncertainty.  For people who were adopted as infants, the uncertainty often begins later, in adolescence or young adulthood, when they start wanting to find out more about their genetic parents than what their adoptive parents know; this impulse sometimes, but not always, arises from conflicts between adoptees and their adoptive parents.  In the age of consumer DNA testing and of legal and social trends toward being transparent with adoptees about the circumstances of their adoption, there is no universal way that family dynamics work once the adopted children reach adulthood.  Becoming parents themselves may bring adoptees closer to their adoptive parents, it may motivate them to seek out their genetic relatives, or it may do both.  Adoption usually does not cause conflict in probate cases, because Florida laws of intestate succession are clear about the family relationships that entitle heirs to a share of the estate.  If you are the personal representative of the estate of a member of an adoptive family, contact a Tampa probate lawyer.

Intestate Succession Entitles Adoptees to Inherit From Their Adoptive Parents, Not Their Birth Parents

The term “legal parent” often appears in family court cases, and usually in reference to the legal parents of a minor.  An adult can become a child’s legal parent by giving birth to the child, being legally married to the child’s birth mother at the time of birth, signing a voluntary declaration of paternity, or legally adopting the child.  When genetic parents place a child for adoption, they lose their status as the child’s legal parents when the adoption becomes final; instead, the adoptive parents become the legal parents.

Once you reach adulthood, it doesn’t matter who your legal parents are except in probate law.  If someone dies without a will, his or her children have the right to inherit from the estate, regardless of whether the children are related to the decedent by birth or adoption.  Adoptees do not inherit from their birth mothers if the birth mother dies without a will.

You Can Inherit From Anyone If the Decedent’s Will Says So

The laws of intestate succession only apply if the decedent did not write a will.  If the decedent wrote a will, the will has the final say about who inherits what from the estate.  The birth mother can leave an inheritance to her genetic children in her will, just as she can leave an inheritance to anyone, regardless of their relationship to her.  If the birth mother was not in close contact with the children, the personal representative should make a diligent effort to locate them and contact them early in the probate case.

Contact David Toback About Probate Cases Involving Adoption

A Central Florida estate planning lawyer can help you settle the estate of a decedent who placed a child for adoption.  Contact David Toback in Tampa, Florida to set up a consultation.

Source:

caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-district-court-of-appeal/116478876.html