The stranger to the adoption rule applies to a stepchild adopted as adult

In In re Trust Under Agreement of Vander Poel, 933 A.2d 628 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2007), the court held that the stranger to the adoption rule applies to a person adopted as an adult who is therefore excluded from a class gift to the adoptive parent’s issue in a trust created by the adoptive parent’s mother even though the rule would not apply had the adoption taken place when the adopted person was a child.
   

In addition, although the doctrine of equitable adoption probably would apply under the facts, equitable adoption would give the child legal rights only against the parent.