Adopted Child Inheritance

Someone asked me, "I have a friend who...

married a man with whom she had 4 children. After 10 years of marriage, she decided to leave him because he was overly jealous with her work mates. She took 2 children with her to Canada to migrate and left 2 with him. In Canada, she met someone and got married to that Canadian. She had one child with him. Two years after the child was born, the Canadian passed away. She moved back to the Philippines with her 3 children. Her husband wanted to win her back and adopted her child with the Canadian following legal procedure. A few years later, the Filipino husband also passed away. The adopted Canadian child received a share of his inheritance. The two children who stayed with the father could not accept this. Is the inheritance of the Canadian child valid?

My answer is the inheritance of the Canadian Child is valid. 

According to article 979 of the civil code of the Philippines, the adopted child shall be deemed to be a legitimate child and have the same rights as the latter. An adopted child succeeds to the property of the adopting parents in the same manner as a legitimate child.

However, the relationship created by adoption is between only the adopting parents and the adopted child (Sayson v. CA). Thus, if the inheritance stemmed from anyone other than the father (e.g. the grandfather), then the child from Canada would have no share to the estate.

In this case, the process of adoption resulted in a legitimate relationship between the father and the adopted child from Canada being formed, and thus, the share of inheritance that the child from Canada will receive from the father is undoubtedly valid.

Answered by: Rock Hernandez

/JS