Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

No. When you were adopted by your stepfather he legally became your father. Depending upon your age, your mother might be able to make a claim for back child support if it was ever ordered. Your stepfather could not have adopted you without your biological father's approval; you should not resent your stepfather for taking on the legal responsibility that he was not obligated to do so.

We get this question a lot.

Adoption under California law creates a parent-child relationship between the child and his or her adoptive parents. (Prob. Code, 6450, subd. (b).)

For intestate succession purposes, adoption also severs the parent-child relationship between the adopted child and a natural parent unless:

(1) The natural parent and the adopted person lived together at any time as parent and child, or the natural parent was married to or cohabiting with the other natural parent at the time the person was conceived and died before the person�s birth.

(2) The adoption was by the spouse of either of the natural parents or after the death of either of the natural parents

(b)Neither a natural parent nor a relative of a natural parent, except for a wholeblood brother or sister of the adopted person or the issue of that brother or sister, inherits from or through the adopted person on the basis of a parent and child relationship between the adopted person and the natural parent that satisfies the requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a), unless the adoption is by the spouse or surviving spouse of that parent.

(c)For the purpose of this section, a prior adoptive parent and child relationship is treated as a natural parent and child relationship.

(Prob. Code, � 6451, subd. (a).)

(Estate of Dye (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 966, 972-973.)