Reader N.V.T (Hung Yen) wondered: "Grandparents passed away without a will. Grandparents have 2 biological children and one adopted child. Is the inherited land divided among adopted children?".
Lawyer Nguyen Thi Hau - Law Firm LawKey Co., Ltd. said that if the grandparents die without leaving a will, their inheritance (land) will be divided according to law (based on point a, clause 1, Article 650 of the 2015 Civil Code).
For adopted children, whether or not to share inherited land will depend on the legality of adoption, specifically divided into 2 cases:
Case 1: Legally adopted child
If the adoption of this child has been registered at a competent State agency according to the provisions of the Law on Adopting (with an Adopting Certificate), then this child is recognized by law as a legal adopted child.
- Based on Article 653 of the 2015 Civil Code, adopted children and adoptive fathers and adopted mothers are entitled to inherit each other's inheritance.
- At the same time, according to point a, Clause 1, Article 651 of the 2015 Civil Code, both biological and adopted children belong to the first line of inheritance.
The legal adopted child has the full right to inherit. Based on Clause 2, Article 651, the adopted child will be divided the inheritance equal to the share of each biological child (divided equally into 3 parts, assuming that both parents have passed away).
Case 2: Not legally adopted
If the couple only adopted and cared for in reality without registering the adoption procedure at the State agency, then legally, the relationship between the couple and this child is not recognized by law as a parent-child relationship.
The adopted child in this case does not belong to the first line of inheritance, so he will not be divided the inheritance of land according to the law. The entire inheritance will be divided equally among the 2 biological children. (The adopted child will only receive the property if the 2 biological children voluntarily agree to deduct a part of their inheritance to give back to the adopted child).
