Can An Adopted Child Receive An Inheritance From Their Biological Parents?

In most states, biological children have a legal right to their parents' estates. Adoption can change that. A child that was given up for adoption might not have a claim to his or her biological parents' estates. Whether he or she does have a claim depends on certain circumstances.

Is Your Claim Automatically Terminated?

In an adoption, the biological parents are required to give up their parental rights. All their legal responsibilities to the child end once the proper documentation is signed. In most states, a child's legal claim to his or her biological parents' estate ends, too. There are some exceptions though.

Some states do allow adopted children to make a claim on their parents' estates if there was a provision in the adoption decree that allowed for it. In those states, it is more common among open adoptions.

In some states, whether the provision is included in the adoption decree does not matter. If there is a familial relationship between the adopted child and the biological parent, he or she could potentially file a claim on a parent's estate.

Adopted children do gain the right to inherit from their adopted parents though. Once the adoption is complete, they receive the same rights as a biological child would.

Can Your Biological Parent Inherit from Your Estate?

Even though your concern is whether you can inherit from your biological parents, you need to understand how the law views your biological parents and your estate. Depending on the state in which you live, your biological parents might be able to inherit from your estate even though they gave up their parental rights.

In the states that do allow a biological parent to inherit from their biological child's estate, the inheritance can be a gift or part of a will. If an adopted adult dies without a will, the biological parents could potentially be successful in claiming a right to an inheritance using the intestate laws.

Without a will, your family, such as your adopted parents, siblings, and other relatives could end up in court fighting your biological parents to keep them from receiving an inheritance. If that happens, your adopted family could be forced to split your estate with the biological parents.

If you want to explore your right to inherit from your biological parents or fight their right to keep them from inheriting from your estate, you need to start estate planning now with an attorney.