Inheritance to adopted child

I am so sorry for your loss, unfortunately greed makes people absolutely horrid, it truly does.

I didn’t mean ‘class’ by ‘socially acceptable’, I meant (as you say) married.

I think the above was more common in middle class families.

In my working class family back in the 40s there was at least one incidence of a girl’s ‘brother’ actually being her child. You can’t register the husband as the father when he’s the mother’s father too!

I hasten to add that we are also fairly sure (from resemblance to her eventual husband) that this was not a case of incest.

oh yes to this!!!

OP request a copy of the will. Adoption confers on you the same status as any of your siblings, so unless your grandfather has specifically excluded you or stipulated ‘birth’ children (which from what you’ve said, I very much doubt) then you will inherit as you should. If the will has no such stipulation and Uncle Dickhead continues to bang on, tell him he’s welcome to waste his share of the inheritance on contesting it. I’m so sorry for both your losses OP - l lost my own dad young and l miss him every day. The upside is that once this is done and dusted, you won’t have to clap eyes on this awful man ever again.

That’s not really happened in the Uk for about a century, when legal adoption was available ( 1926 in England and 1930 in Scotland ).

Even before that, usually what happened was that the birth was registered to the biological mother and the actual adoptive father as the supposed biological father. This meant that the child still had a legal link to the adoptive parents.

And it wasn’t so much that the adoptive parents were more respectable. they were often of a similar social class to the birth parents. It was more that adoption was seen a neat solution to 3 social problems

• a baby born outside marriage, the social stigma for the mother ( not the father of course ) , no financial support for the mother unless her family stepped in, no where to live , no childcare so she could work, she would be unable to make a good marriage in future
• the stigma of illegitimacy for the baby, the prospect of growing up in poverty
• married couples who were infertile and wanted a baby.

At the time it was seen as win win win.

Just jumping on to add my voice to those who say what an absolute weapon your uncle is. If my brother tried to treat my (adopted) kids like that I would be devastated. He would not because we are all family. That is the point.

As long as the OP lives 7 years after the gift and/or it falls with in the nil rate band of her estate for inheritance tax, there would be no tax due anyway.

Also, if we are talking about a large estate, the nil rate inheritance tax residence band only covers leaving the property to direct descendants.

As a DIL isn’t covered, I can’t think of a deed of variation that wouldn’t at best have no effect on tax and at worst significantly increase the tax bill.

Urgh, your uncle IS despicable.

Even though you plan to share the money with your mother (which is lovely of you), you could still tell him that you’re sending it all to a charity overseas (or to refugees in this country maybe?) just for the satisfaction of really annoying him.

Slightly off topic but if you are intending to give half to your mum, explore getting a deed of variation which means there will not be any tax due. We have just done this free with an online lawyer

Where there s will there s a relative ! So the old saying goes .Honestly how greedy can some people be? I would as PP say get advice from a Solicitor .I think he hasnt got any case.Also!" At least it gets split 2 ways now! "what a thing to say.Just dont see him any more hes no loss

This. At least you know now what kind of person your uncle is and you can choose to have nothing to do with him. Greed and the prospect of an inheritance bring out the worst in some people.

I hope you are reassured from this thread . Firstly that he has no Legal case and it won’t go any further once he’s met with his solictor. Also it’s not you personally he would be taking to court, he would be challenging the validity of the will. So it’s not your case to fight.

And second that all decent people consider adoptees to be family members just the same as everyone else.

What @Cakeandcardio said. Money really does bring the worst out in people. It isn’t always that people don’t like each other - they just see the pound signs and will do anything to have the money, even if it’s not there’s. Make sure you don’t give in and make spend the money on what makes you happy xx

Possibly. It would be reasonable for a solicitor executor to ask for birth certificates to confirm someone is a child or grandchild of the deceased and an adoption certificate has the same legal standing.

Edited to say: If you do need to provide a copy, keep hold of the original and send off a certified copy (any solicitor can do it for you for either £5 or £10 - can’t remember which).

Once probate is granted, the will can be viewed online. It’s public info and costs a few pound. That way you will know the terms.

www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Your father passed three years ago and the estate isn't wrapped up yet? Why?

Don't worry about the twat of an uncle; he hasn't got a leg to stand on. If he wants to waste a bit of his money on getting a lawyer to tell him that, laugh and ignore.

The only circumstances where there can be an issue is much less common today - namely where a couple took in a baby and claimed him or her as their child but there is no legal adoption (more common when having a child out of wedlock was shameful and a child would be passed to socially acceptable parents).

In that case, the child wouldn’t inherit. It could get very messy if the child didn’t even know there had been an informal adoption.

However, this almost never happens today as the schools / doctors etc require legal proof of parentage.

Sorry for the loss of your grandfather and dad, something about inheritances can make some people just utterly evil. When my nan died all the grabby members of the family came crawling out of the woodwork and it made a hard and stressful time just utterly infuriating- it’s not what you want at all when you’re grieving!

At least this confirms for you even further that your uncle isn’t someone you need in your life! I’m adopted too. The whole point of adoption is ensuring you have the exact rights a biological child would have, if he had enough braincells he could have googled this easily to get his answer. Your uncle sounds awful.

Maybe donate some of the money to a charity uncle would hate😂

That's shocking - What a disgusting man. And no, he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. How bloody dare he!

Even with a will, children still inherit from a grandparent in place of a deceased parent even if the will doesn’t say this.

The will has to specifically say grandchildren don’t inherit in place of a deceased parent for that to be the case.

Solicitors put it in because otherwise non-legal executors can get themselves in a terrible muddle. It’s one of the very few (possibly only) circumstances where executors have to look outside the will for what to do with the estate.

For any legacies to anyone else, if the beneficiary predeceases the person who made the will, the money does not go to the heirs of the beneficiary - it goes back into the residue of the estate covered by the will. So you can see it can be confusing!

I am an adoptive mother, if any of my siblings thought this about my child I would be so angry. They don't though, your uncle is a knob. Please try not to let it get to you.

Unfortunately, in my experience, inheritance (even a sum as small as £200) can bring out the worst in people. Stand your ground. Your dad and grandfather viewed you as their family. What your uncle tries to do will only show his true colours. Nasty piece of work. I hope it works out for you with minimal stress.