Are You An “Heir” In Florida?: Adoption and Termination of Parental Rights

In Florida, many probate lawyers know that a petition of administration filed to “open” an estate typically lists the surviving heirs of the deceased Florida resident.  Who is the surviving spouse and children?   Florida, like most states, has an intestacy statute which instructs all of us how a deceased Florida resident’s property shall pass when that person dies without a Florida will.  If you adopt a person in Florida, that adopted person typically then becomes an “heir” and is no longer an heir of that person’s original, or biological, parents.  In other words, inheritance rights can be shut off or changed.  After adopted, you have inheritance rights of your newly adopted parent(s) and you lose those inheritance rights of your original or biological parent(s).  In Florida, a parent can also seek to terminate parental rights.    Probate lawyers in Broward County, Palm Beach County, and Miami Dade County, Florida know the importance of determine who one’s heirs are.  Was someone adopted?  Did you have children?  Were they adopted by any one else?  Were parental rights terminated?  Probate lawyers and those that administer estates in Florida know that the legal worlds of “family law” can overlap with “probate law” or “estate law.”  Knowing who inherits in Florida, and who is an “interested” person in a Florida estate case, are important matters.   Heirs, family members, and more remote descendants like children and grandchildren, may not only be an “heir” under the Florida intestacy statute, but may also be a permissible beneficiary of a Florida trust.  Consider the Florida trust which distributes income or principal for “my descendants” or “my heirs”.   Knowing who is a child of whom, and whether one’s parental rights were terminated, or whether someone was adopted or not are important issues for Florida probate lawyers, those that administer Florida estates, Florida trustees and Florida lawyers who handle wills, trusts and estates.   Advocate hard. Litigate smart.