Do Adopted Children Inherit From Their Birth Parents in Washington?

Maybe you were adopted as a child and have just learned that a birth parent died. Maybe you are a stepparent about to adopt your spouse's child and want to know what the child gains and gives up. Either way, the question is the same: after an adoption, whose estate does the child have a legal claim to?

In Washington, an adopted child does not inherit from a birth parent who dies without a will. RCW 11.04.085 says that a lawfully adopted child is not considered an "heir" of his or her natural parents for purposes of Washington's probate code. In exchange, the child becomes a full legal heir of the adoptive parent under RCW 26.33.260. Two points soften that rule. A stepparent adoption does not cut the tie to the parent who is married to the stepparent, and a birth parent remains free to leave property to the child by will.

What RCW 11.04.085 Takes Away

The statute is one sentence long: a lawfully adopted child is not an heir of the natural parents. "Heirs," as RCW 11.02.005 defines the word, are the people entitled to a person's property under the intestate succession statutes when that person dies without a will. So the rule in RCW 11.04.085 is about the default inheritance scheme, the one described in what happens if you die without a will in Washington. When a birth parent dies without a will, a child who was adopted by someone else is not in the line of people who take.

The Washington Supreme Court read the statute broadly in In re Estates of Donnelly, 81 Wn.2d 430, 502 P.2d 1163 (1972). There, a girl's father died when she was a baby. Her mother remarried, and the stepfather adopted her. Years later her father's father died without a will, and the question was whether she could take the share her late father would have received. The court said no. It held that RCW 11.04.085 was intended to remove an adopted child from her natural bloodline for inheritance purposes, so a child who cannot inherit from a natural parent cannot stand in that parent's place to inherit from the grandparent either.

That result surprises many families, because nobody in the Donnelly case gave the child up. Her father died, and a loving stepfather stepped in. The adoption still ended her place in her father's family for purposes of inheriting without a will.

What the Child Gains From the Adoptive Family

The other half of the trade is in RCW 26.33.260, the statute that states the effect of an adoption decree. Once the decree is entered, the adopted person is, in the statute's words, the child, legal heir, and lawful issue of the adoptive parent, with all the rights of a natural child, including the right of inheritance and the right to take under a will.

RCW 11.02.005 carries that through the rest of the family tree. Its definition of "issue" says an adopted individual is a lineal descendant of each adoptive parent and of everyone the adoptive parent is descended from. An adopted child therefore inherits from adoptive grandparents by the same rules as a grandchild by birth, and counts among the adoptive parent's issue under the probate code. If those terms are unfamiliar, see what heirs, issue, and personal representative mean in a Washington will.

How Does a Stepparent Adoption Change the Picture?

Stepparent adoptions are where this question gets the most attention, and RCW 26.33.260 treats them carefully. The decree divests a parent of legal rights and obligations toward the child only if that parent is "not married to the adoptive parent" or "has not joined in the petition for adoption." The only thing that survives for a divested parent is any past-due child support obligation.

Put in everyday terms, when a stepfather adopts his wife's child, the mother is married to the adoptive parent and normally joins in the petition, so the decree leaves her relationship with the child intact. Because the statute is worded with an "or," a careful petition has the custodial parent join so there is no question on this point. The child now has two legal parents, the mother and the adoptive stepfather. The other birth parent is the one whose rights and obligations end, and under RCW 11.04.085 the child is no longer that parent's heir.

For a family weighing a stepparent adoption, that is a real cost to put next to the benefits. The child gains inheritance rights from the stepparent and the stepparent's family and loses the default right to inherit from the other birth parent and, under Donnelly, from that parent's side of the family. The process itself is covered in how do I adopt my stepchild.

A stepchild who is never adopted is in the opposite position: still an heir of both birth parents, but generally with no inheritance right from the stepparent unless the stepparent provides for the child in a will.

Can a Birth Parent Still Leave Something to the Child?

Yes. RCW 11.04.085 addresses who counts as an heir when there is no will. It does not stop anyone from choosing to leave property to a particular person. A birth parent, or a birth grandparent like the one in Donnelly, can name an adopted-away child in a will, a trust, or a beneficiary designation, and that choice controls.

The practical point is to name the person. A will that leaves property "to my children" or "to my grandchildren" and nothing more invites an argument over whether a child adopted into another family is included. Identifying the person by name removes the question.

The same goes for adoptive families. An adopted child already stands on equal footing with other children under the default rules, but a will lets parents say exactly what they want, which matters most in blended families where children by birth, adopted children, and stepchildren may all be part of the household.

A Worked Example

Jon and Kelly have a daughter, Maya. Jon dies when Maya is three. Kelly later marries Paul, the family settles in Marysville, and when Maya is seven, Paul adopts her.

Twenty years later, Jon's mother dies without a will. If Jon had lived, he would have been one of her heirs, and Maya would ordinarily have taken his share in his place. Because of the adoption, RCW 11.04.085 as applied in Donnelly means Maya is not an heir of her birth father's family, and she takes nothing from her grandmother's estate by default.

Maya's position on the other side of the family is secure. She is Paul's child and legal heir under RCW 26.33.260, and she inherits from Paul's parents as their grandchild. Her relationship with Kelly was never affected, because Kelly was married to the adoptive parent.

If Jon's mother wanted Maya to inherit, a will naming Maya would have accomplished it. Without one, the statute decided the question for her.

Planning Around an Adoption

Adoption rewrites the inheritance map for a child, and families rarely think about that part until someone dies. If you are adopting a stepchild, were adopted yourself, or want to provide for a child or grandchild who was adopted into another family, an estate plan can fill the gaps the statutes leave. The Law Office of Chad Foster can help you sort out where a child stands and put a plan in place. Call 425.785.8679 to talk with a Snohomish County estate planning attorney.