Inheritance question (this is happening on a soap). A young woman

[raccoon]

has a baby by a rich man (such as the Bushes or Kennedys) and gives away the child for adoption.

The child is adopted by a middle class family....maybe 50-60 years later, "child" finds out her real father is a Bush/Kennedy/Whatever.

Is she entitled to ANY of the wealthy family's money?

I wouldn't think so, but I'm not a lawyer or a paralegal.

[pitohui]

1. seems like too little too late but if it were me i'd get a lawyer

presumably at some point the father should have been paying child support to somebody

i honestly don't know, seems like one of these things that would go state by state, i had a friend who came back 10 yrs later (after getting divorced) who came back and told the guy he was a father and she was thinking of trying to get $ out of him, i don't know if it would have worked, but since the guy in question was a homeless bum the matter never got to court

pretty sure if he was a bush he woulda had to pay something to make her go away

it did get so far as DNA testing to prove he was the father, this was louisiana, and she came back to this state to force him to get the test done...which suggests yeah if he'd had any $ she would have gotten it

but this was 10 yrs after not 50

[1monster]

10. In Floria, there is a four year statute of limitations. (Or at least there was twenty or so years

ago.) So the fifty or sixty year old child of millionaires would be out of luck.

Also, I believe that an adoption voids any obligation on the part of the birth parents.

[CBGLuthier]

2. Jett Williams. Different but real circumstances

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jett_Williams

[liberal N proud]

3. On TV, YES... in real life, it depends on the lawyer

And you know the rich are going to have a bigger and better lawyer than the middle class individual.

[supernova]

4. Depends on weather or not

the MoneyBags family was aware of the baby and supported for the child growing up, even surreptitiously.

[rfranklin]

5. Only if the old man died without a will...

and had no other heirs.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. If the 'child' can prove that the guy was their father via DNA, etc., then they

could fight for their inheritance.

Legitimacy was formerly of great consequence, in that only legitimate children could inherit their fathers' estates. In the United States, in the early 1970s, a series of Supreme Court decisions abolished most, if not all, of the common-law disabilities of bastardy, as being violations of the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legitimacy_(law)

[Laelth]

7. In Georgia, no.

Adoption literally severs biological parentage. The birth certificate is changed to show new parents, and, for all legal purposes, it is as if the biological parents never existed.

Of course, a will could be used to give property to any person or any institution. If the rich biological parent gives money to the biological child in the will, then that bequest should stand if the will is valid. Absent a will, the biological child is entitled to nothing.

This is not legal advice. Consult an attorney in your jurisdiction.

:dem:

-Laelth

[sinkingfeeling]

11. I take back my prior post. I was only thinking about the 'illegitimate' part. You're right about

adopted 'children' being unable to inherit from the biological parent.


Adopted children usually have no rights of succession to any property interests from their biological parents.

Read more at Suite101: Legal Rights of Children in Estate Planning http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/estate_planning/40201#ixzz0sGH3UeG0

[Oregone]

8. Depends on if the Soap wants to resurrect the dad for ratings

Maybe his twin died after stealing his life and locking him up

[Statistical]

9. If the father has already died and estate passed probate then no.

Probate is period for all claims to be made against the estate.

After the estate passed from probate to inheritors it becomes their property.
Since the child has no claim against his/her half-brother (or whoever got property) they no longer have a claim.

IF the father is still alive and or has died but estate is still in probate then depending on the state he/she may have a claim.

If you "find out" too late there is no recourse.