NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1963 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 967

HOUSE BILL 585

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND G.S. 48-23, RELATING TO INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF ADOPTED CHILDREN.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

 

Section 1.  Section 48-23 of the General Statutes is hereby amended to read as follows:

"§ 48-23.  Legal Effect of Final Order of Adoption. The following legal effects shall result from the entry of every final order of adoption:

"(a)       The final order forthwith shall establish the relationship of parent and child between the petitioners and child, and from the date of the signing of the final order of adoption, the child shall be entitled to inherit real and personal property by, through, and from the adoptive parents in accordance with the statutes relating to intestate succession. An adopted child shall have the same legal status, including all legal rights and obligations of any kind whatsoever, as he would have had if he were born the legitimate child of the adoptive parent or parents at the date of the signing of the final order of adoption, except that the age of the child shall be computed from the date of his actual birth.

"(b)      The natural parents of the person adopted, if living, shall, from and after the entry of the final order of adoption, be relieved of all legal duties and obligations due from them to the person adopted, and shall be divested of all rights with respect to such person.

"(c)       From and after the entry of the final order of adoption, the words 'child', 'grandchild', 'heir', 'issue', 'descendant' or an equivalent, or the plural forms thereof, or any other word of like import in any deed, grant, will or other written instrument shall be held to include any adopted person, unless the contrary plainly appears by the terms thereof, whether such instrument was executed before or after the entry of the final order of adoption and whether such instrument was executed before or after the enactment of this Act.

"(d)      Where an adoption proceeding has been instituted and interlocutory decree has been entered and one of the petitioners who seeks to adopt the child dies before the final order of adoption has been entered, and the wife or husband of such deceased petitioner shall thereafter obtain a final order of adoption, then said child shall have the status denned in subsections (a) and (c) of this Section and shall be entitled to inherit real and personal property by, through, and from the deceased petitioner in accordance with the statutes relating to intestate succession, and shall be held to be the 'child', 'grandchild', 'heir', 'issue', 'descendant', or an equivalent of such deceased petitioner or of his or her ancestor, as the case may be, and any such word or word of like import appearing in any deed, grant, will or other wirtten instrument shall be held to include, whenever appropriate, said child unless the contrary plainly appears by the terms thereof."

Sec. 2.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 3.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 18th day of June, 1963.