Intestate Inheritance Rights for Adopted Children - Utah

Birth Parents in Relation to Adopted Person

Citation: Ann. Code § 75-2-114

For purposes of intestate succession by, through, or from a person, an adopted individual is not the child of the birth parents. However, adoption of a child by the spouse of either birth parent has no effect on:

• The relationship between the child and that birth parent
• The right of the child or a descendant of the child to inherit from or through the other birth parent

Adoptive Parents in Relation to Adopted Person

Citation: Ann. Code § 75-2-114

For purposes of intestate succession by, through, or from a person, an adopted individual is the child of the adopting parent(s).

Adopted Persons Who Are Not Included in a Will

Citation: Ann. Code §§ 75-2-302; 75-2-705

If a testator fails to provide in his or her will for any child who was adopted after the execution of the will, the omitted after-adopted child receives a share in the estate as follows:

• If the testator had no child living when he or she executed the will, an omitted after-adopted child receives a share in the estate equal in value to what the child would have received had the testator died intestate, unless the will gave all or substantially all of the estate to the other parent of the omitted child and that other parent survives the testator and is entitled to take under the will.
• If the testator had one or more children living when he or she executed the will, and the will gave property or an interest in property to one or more of the then-living children, an omitted after-adopted child is entitled to share in the estate as follows:
  • The portion of the estate in which the omitted after-adopted child is entitled to share is limited to bequests made to the testator's then-living children under the will.
  • The omitted after-adopted child is entitled to receive the share of the estate, as limited above, that he or she would have received had the testator included all omitted after-born and after-adopted children with the children to whom bequests were made under the will and had given an equal share of the estate to each child.

The above does not apply if:

• It appears from the will that the omission was intentional.
• The testator provided for the omitted after-adopted child by transfer outside the will with the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision.

Adopted persons and their descendants, if appropriate to the class, are included in class gifts and other terms of relationship in accordance with the rules for intestate succession.