Intestate Inheritance Rights for Adopted Children - Georgia

Birth Parents in Relation to Adopted Person

Citation: Ann. Code § 19-8-19

An adoption decree terminates all legal relationships between the adopted person and his or her birth relatives, including rights of inheritance.

If a parent of a child dies without the relationship of parent and child having been previously terminated by court order or unrevoked surrender of parental rights to the child, the child's right of inheritance from or through the deceased parent shall not be affected by the adoption.

Adoptive Parents in Relation to Adopted Person

Citation: Ann. Code §§ 19-8-19; 53-1-8

A decree of adoption creates the relationship of parent and child between the adoptive parent(s) and the adopted person. The adopted person shall enjoy every right and privilege of a birth child of the adoptive parent, including the right to inherit under the laws of descent and distribution in the absence of a will, unless expressly excluded. The adopted person shall take by inheritance from relatives of the adoptive parent and also shall inherit as a 'child' of the adoptive parent under a class gift made by the will of a third person.

The adoptive parent(s) and their relatives shall be entitled to inherit from and through the adopted individual under the laws of intestacy in the absence of a will, unless expressly excluded.

Adopted Persons Who Are Not Included in a Will

Citation: Ann. Code § 53-4-48

If the will was made prior to the adoption of a child by the testator and does not contain a provision in contemplation of such an event, the child shall receive the share of the estate he or she would have received had the testator died intestate.