Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My daughter was adopted by my second husband after my first husband died. We later divorced after having a daughter together. Can my older daughter be left out of my ex-husband's will? I had heard an adopted child could not be disinheirted.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Actually, the only person you can't normally completely "disinherit" is a spouse, due to the community property laws we have. Should your ex-husband desire, he could decide to disinherit his adopted daughter, his biological daughter, or both. If someone dies WITHOUT a will, and the state heirship laws apply (there's a very specific set of statutes that determine who gets what if you're married or not, have kids or not, etc.), in that case, an adopted child is treated the same as a biological child, but none of that applies with a will.