I was adopted out when younger, am I out my inheritance???

January 11, 2006 8:43 PM

Anyone know California probate laws. Heres a question. My father passed away with no will leaving me, and his other son as sole beneficiaries. However I was adopted by my step dad when I was 8(I'm 30 now) I guess he had a drug problem and couldn't do the dad thing. I did live with him as a baby, and my biological mom was married to the guy who adopted me. So do I still have claim to half the estate????????Only thing I found is probate code 6450, but not quite sure if it applies. I called a couple attorneys but they wanted $$ for consultation
posted by highgene to law & government (8 comments total)

"Generally, an adopted child inherits from adoptive parents and may not inherit from biological parents unless specifically named in a will; however, in the states of Colorado, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming, the adopted person's right to inherit from birthparents and birth relatives is retained. In some states (for example, Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma), whether or not an adopted person is excluded from inheriting from birthparents is not addressed while in many states the adopted person is specifically excluded from inheriting from birthparents."

http://encyclopedia.adoption.com/entry/inheritance/186/1.html

If the amount of money involved is significant, you're going to want to talk to a California lawyer experienced in these matters. Metafilter isn't going to do it for you, and you're going to need a lawyer to represent you anyway, so...
posted by jellicle at 8:50 PM on January 11, 2006

If you can't afford a lawyer there are always legal services clinics and law schools that might be able to give you some useful information.
posted by luriete at 8:54 PM on January 11, 2006

There's also a website called Law Guru where you can post questions that will be answered by laywers licensed in that state. I think it's free. There was an article about it, and other legal answer sites, in a recent issue of the ABA Journal.
posted by jayder at 9:00 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm a lawyer, but (a) I am not your lawyer and this is not legal advice, (b) I am not licensed in California, and (c) I am in no way an expert in inheritance law (particularly CA inheritance law).

With those express caveats:

Your natural father died "intestate" - that is, with no will. So the question is how California deals with intestate succession (or inheritance in cases where there is no will) for adopted children. The answer, I believe, is in California Probate Code Section 6451 (one away from what you found). That section says:

**********************************
6451. (a) An adoption severs the relationship of parent and child between an adopted person and a natural parent of the adopted person unless both of the following requirements are satisfied:
(1) The natural parent and the adopted person lived together at any time as parent and child, or the natural parent was married to or cohabiting with the other natural parent at the time the person was conceived and died before the person's birth.
(2) The adoption was by the spouse of either of the natural parents or after the death of either of the natural parents.
(b) Neither a natural parent nor a relative of a natural parent, except for a wholeblood brother or sister of the adopted person or the issue of that brother or sister, inherits from or through the adopted person on the basis of a parent and child relationship between the adopted person and the natural parent that satisfies the requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a), unless the adoption is by the spouse or surviving spouse of that parent.
(c) For the purpose of this section, a prior adoptive parent and child relationship is treated as a natural parent and child
relationship.
***************************************

The way I read that, when a person is adopted, the law generally treats their adoptive parent as a replacement (rather than an addition) to their natural parent. So you get rights to inherit from stepdad and lose them from your natural dad. But there is an exception written in to the statute. You retain inheritance rights from your natural father (in addition to your adoptive father) IF you meet BOTH of the following:

(1) at some time in your life, you lived with your dad in a father-son relationship; AND
(2) the person that adopted you was married to your mom at the time.

It seems from your brief description like you meet both of those requirements, so I think you would retain the right to inherit from your natural father.

As others have said, by all means get a lawyer. The law may say you are entitled to the money, but in our modern court system (especially in something so procedurally tricky as probate court) it is very very risky to go to court without someone who knows what to do and where, when, and how to do it.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:17 PM on January 11, 2006

I find this discussion really interesting and really bizarre. The law just seems like an extended, labrynthine puzzle written by robots, at times, or the rules to a complex game that only self-selecting people play.
posted by mecran01 at 9:54 PM on January 11, 2006

mecran01, it all started out as a "complex game that only self-selecting people" played, namely the rich people. Property law is very arcane, and thus adds lots of new twists on top of old nuances. That's why this is a very difficult (and jurisdiction-specific) question.

Advice to the original poster - see a lawyer if you want to collect anything.
posted by MrZero at 10:06 PM on January 11, 2006

So do I still have claim to half the estate?

Someone will be appointed by the (appropriate) court to handle your (biological) father's estate. Before you talk to a lawyer (aka paying a lawyer), consider talking to that appointee (sorry, blanking on technical term for him/her). Provide the best-answer information above.

Assuming that the person agrees with the interpretation above (which seems likely), and the other son doesn't want to fight for 100%, then you can avoid the expense of a lawyer. (And do get the agreement in writing, if possible; at worst, write a letter to the person, summarizing your conversation, stating your understanding of what was agree to, and saying that if the person changes his/her mind, you ask to be notified so that you can consider hiring a lawyer.)
posted by WestCoaster at 1:14 PM on January 12, 2006

I'm unclear from your message about if your father died before or after you were adopted. AFAICT, it's a question of whose son you were at the time of his death. If you were adopted at some later point, that's irrelevant.

I'm not a lawyer and I think it's worth paying a consultation fee to a good one.
posted by winston at 5:31 PM on January 12, 2006