Inheritance

[Srob84674]

My husband and I adopted my biological son. However my son has had contact with his biological father for over a year. Sadly he passed away with my son with him and named as next of kin. His father has no other children and has had no contact with any of his family members for over 10 years. Sadly he did not leave a will but did state that he didn't want his family members to inherit from him and my son being the only family in contact with him to have anything he left. Where does he legally stand with this. My son also registered his death . I would be grateful for some guidance please

[des8]

Hi and welcome

condolences to the bereaved

As he died intestate his assets will be distributed according to the intestacy rules which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

[Peridot]

Hi Srob84674,

It must be difficult for your son and you. Can you confirm whether your son's biological father retained parental responsibility (PR)? It is not usual when a child is adopted. Normally those with PR would lose it to the adoptive parents however, step parents can obtain PR (rather than full adoption of the child) and in those circumstances the biological parent would retain PR also.

If PR was not retained then under the Intestacy Rules your son would not be entitled to inherit from the biological father's estate. If his biological father did not wish for his other family to inherit he needed to write a Will leaving his estate to whoever he wished.

I hope that clarifies and may well not be what your son wishes to hear I'm afraid. If his biological father retained PR then he would be entitled under the Rules but if this was a true adoption then legally he wouldn't.