Illegitimate child/inheritance

[springandsnow]

Hi all,
Just the above really, can an illegitimate child inherit, if we specifically write in a will that it shouldn't?
Many thanks

Ohh WOW

Mia85
Those vile people were my own family. Most of whom lived in the same house. (Large extended family in small house)

@ZoeCM

‘Illegitimate child’ sounds like the result of an affair, visit to sex workers or similar. Certainly not stepchildren by an ex-partner.

"Illegitimate", when applied to children (not a nice phrase, admittedly), simply means that the child was conceived outside of marriage.

Legitimacy' itself is a legal concept, referring to the right to inherit, among other things. Without DNA tests or similar there was no way of proving anybody's heritage, so children born out of wedlock had no claim to the estate.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legitimacy_(family_law)

We now have DNA tests, so anybody claiming to be next of kin can easily be verified, in situations where inheritance passes straight on.

'Illegitimate' as used by laymen, and not in a legal sense usually makes reference to children born outside of relationships. So many families have unmarried parents, nobody would refer to their children as such. As opposed to , say child of affair partner.