Virtual Adoption Not Severed By Reconnecting with Natural Father

In Sanders v. Riley, Ga. LEXIS 179 (Ga. March 16, 2015), the Georgia Supreme Court held that once a child has been virtually adopted by an adopted father, the subsequent relation between the adopted child and the natural father does not sever the previous virtual adoption. 

Here, the court was faced with a situation where a child was treated as having been virtually adopted by the father who raised her, and then reconnected to her biological father when the child was 14.  The father died intestate, setting up a dispute over his estate between the father’s biological son and the daughter.  In the opinion, the Georgia Supreme Court explained, “Just as children, once legally adopted, do not become unadopted by forming a relationship later in life with their biological parents—something that is occurring with increasing frequency—children, once virtually adopted, do not become unadopted by developing a relationship later on with their biological parents.” 

See Jeffrey Skatoff, Virtual Adoption Not Undone By Developing Relationship with Natural Father, Florida Probate Lawyers, March 17, 2015.