Invalid Will? Adopted children..

bouicca21

It's perfectly possible to draw a will that protects the interests of children as yet unborn - mine does.

I am at a loss to know what further research OP intends to undertake, let alone why.

getmore4less

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Adopted children lose all natural inheritance rights from their birth parents upon adoption..

Some of the anomalies were fixed in the Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014. where an adoption could loose a child inheritance from a deceased parent.

It should be noted that a natural parent can still have their birth child inherit with a suitable will.


If you want to confuse your understanding always have a read of the legislation and then google for answers to the stuff that makes no sense there are usually condensed guides about.

There is an interesting section 69(5) in the 2002 act for women adopting over 55. (wonder if that has been changes since)

Savvy_Sue

elsien wrote: »

In the same way that if I made a will leaving everything to a husband, got divorced and didn't change it, he'd still stand to inherit.
Life circumstances, as a rule, do not invalidate wills.

getmore4less wrote: »

The will remains valid but any spouse legally is treated as if they died the day of the divorce(can't be executor either).

Ah, that's interesting. I knew divorce invalidated a will, didn't realise how it did it.

Another situation which changes a will is marriage: unless the will is written 'in contemplation of marriage' then becomes void on marriage and the testator is deemed to have died intestate, no?

But the basic facts in this case appear to be that Mother died, adopted child was not mentioned in the will, which left everything to Father. So no-one except Dad gets anything. My will is similar: if DH dies before me the boys get the dosh, when I die, and vice versa, but they get nothing on the first death!

winnie85

bouicca21 wrote: »

It's perfectly possible to draw a will that protects the interests of children as yet unborn - mine does.

I am at a loss to know what further research OP intends to undertake, let alone why.

In the case of examining the will and its exact written notifications, as indicated by a number of posts. As it stands this thread may need to be recited also, on the eventual passing of the 2nd surviving spouse, ( the father).
"In this great age of information, the great sin is that of ignorance"

Yorkshireman99

PasturesNew wrote: »

In SOME, very few, cases, of adoption, it is still possible for the child to make a claim against their natural parent's estate. But it's rare - and not in this case as it's irrelevant. But, for the purpose of backing that up:

IF one were adopted, then got back in touch with your birth parents - and IF you then stayed close to them, maybe moved in with them, lived with them, could evidence a STRONG close/familial tie since you'd rediscovered each other. With paper evidence that they'd welcomed you back and loved you as if they'd never ever had you adopted..... then there can be a case to pursue it.

But that's very rare.

Many get in touch and send Xmas cards a few times; few move back in with their original parents and stay there for years etc.

So it'd have to be a STRONG re-connection, arguable in law by providing proof/evidence that any rift had been cemented over.

Vanishingly small likelihood of this happening in practice. In the OP's "friend's" case non existent.

TBagpuss

winnie85 wrote: »

Really appreciate all the advice. Im particularly enlightened by the fact of children born after wills made point. I had no idea thats the stance of the english law. I wonder how many other cases has had similar misfortune. Useful for my own wisdom in the world, less welcomed in the case of my friend. Im going to continue researching the grounds with this point, and any loop holes sometimes found. If anyone has any leads please post, otherwise thanks again for the help today.

The fact that your friend was adopted is irrelevant - her adoption (or birth had she been their biological child) would not render any will invalid.
It is very common for a couple to leave everything to their spouse/patner and for any children to inherit only once the 2nd parent dies.
If your friend's adopted father dies intestate, then she will inherit a share of his estate along with any other children ( assuming the adoption took place later than Jan 1975)

It is possible for childnre (including adopted children) to make claims under the inheritance act where a parent has died and has failed to make resonable provision for them by will. However, for an adult child, leaving nothing may well be reasonable provision.