How do adopted children’s inheritance rights compare with biological children’s rights in many modern legal systems?

In many modern legal systems, adopted children are generally treated as equal to biological children regarding inheritance rights. While historical legal frameworks often used adoption primarily as a tool for succession, modern laws prioritize the welfare of the child, leading to an explicit equation or strong analogy between the rights of adopted and unadopted children.123

Key aspects of these inheritance rights include:

• Rights with Adoptive Parents: As a general rule, adopted children possess the right to inherit from their adoptive parents, and those parents may inherit from the child.3
• Rights with Natural Parents: In most modern jurisdictions, the right of an adopted child to inherit from their natural parents is increasingly prohibited, with the notable exception of adoptions by stepparents.3
• Extended Family: There is a growing legal tendency to broaden an adopted child’s right to inherit from the relatives of their adoptive parents, though specific statutes on this matter vary significantly by jurisdiction.3

These developments reflect a broader shift toward ensuring that adopted children are fully integrated into their new family units for all legal purposes.13