Intestate Inheritance Rights for Adopted Persons

Leaving a will is the best way to ensure that heirs or descendants may inherit from your estate. Issues of property distribution may arise when a birth parent or adoptive parent dies without making a valid will or without naming an heir to a particular property (referred to as intestacy). In these cases, State law determines who may inherit from whom. Laws in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands specify an adopted person's right to inherit from the estate of either adoptive or birth parents.