Legal Parent May Still Virtually Adopt

Shalanda Sanders brought a claim in a Georgia trial court arguing that she had a right to inherit from the man that she believed was her father until she was 14-years-old, Clifford Riley. Sanders was born while her mother and Riley were married, but found out at age 14 that her biological father was Roy Warren. The trial court granted summary judgment against Sanders and she appealed.

In Sanders v. Riley, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the trial court. The court reasoned that the fact that the legal presumption was that Riley was Sanders’ father did not preclude her from making her virtual adoption claim. The court noted that for Riley to have prevented a future challenge to his presumptive status, he would have had to effectively publicly announce the private information that his wife had an affair. Further, the court found that Sanders reconnecting with her biological father later in life did not change or undue the virtual adoption.

See, Woman May Proceed With Claim of Virtual Adoption by Presumptive Legal Father, Bloomberg BNA, March 24, 2015.

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.