Recently, the Missouri Intermediate Court decided whether the adoption of a parent terminates the relationship between a parent’s child and his or her biological grandparent. Before the decedent’s death, his biological daughter, an adult, was adopted by her stepfather. The decedent died intestate. The daughter would have been an heir but for the adoption. The personal representatives brought a proceeding requesting that $25,000 be distributed to daughter’s own daughter, decedent’s biological grandchild. The trial court granted the request for partial distribution and the decedent’s son, his only other heir appealed.
In re Brockmire, No. ED 99103, 2013 WL 2484534 (Mo. Ct. App. June 11, 2013), the appellate court held that the adoption of a parent severs the relationship of the child of that parent to the biological grandparent. In effect, the daughter’s adoption also ended her child’s legal relationship to her biological grandfather.
Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.
