Effect of Adoption
Parental rights and duties
The 2010 Act provides that when an adoption order is made or where an adoption effected outside the State is recognised under this Act, the child concerned shall be considered as the child of the adopters and the birth parents or guardian shall lose all parental rights and be freed from all parental duties with respect to the child (unless the pre-existing legal parent-child relationship is not terminated – such as may arise in an intercountry adoption).
The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 amended section 58 of the 2010 Act to provide that where a civil partnered couple or a cohabiting couple jointly adopt a child, each member of the couple and the child will have all the rights and duties of parents and children in relation to each other. It also provides that a female second parent who places a child for adoption will be freed from such parental rights and duties on the same basis as a father in this situation. .
An adopted child shall be considered, with regard to the rights and duties of parents and children in relation to each other, as the child of the adopter or adopters and that the child’s mother, guardian or relevant non-guardian (as defined in section 3) shall lose all parental rights and be freed from parental duties in respect of the child.
Where adopter is step parent of child
A child’s mother, guardian or relevant non-guardian (as defined ) shall not lose all parental rights in respect of his or her child when that child is adopted by a step parent (and where such mother or guardian is a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant of the adopter) (see definition of step parent ). A child who is adopted by his or her step parent, shall, upon the making of an adoption order, be regarded as the child of that step parent and the step parent’s spouse, civil partner or cohabitant shall retain all parental rights in respect of that child.
2010 Act provides that the validity of an adoption order is not affected by the subsequent marriage of the child’s birth parents unless the child has been adopted by one of his or her birth parents and their subsequent marriage to each other legitimates the child. In that case, the Legitimacy Act 1931 applies and the adoption order ceases to be in force.
The Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 amended section 59 of the 2010 Act to substitute the term ‘parents’ for ‘birth parents’ in the section. Section 122 of the 2015 Act is repealed by The 2017 Act. The 2017 Act amends section 59 of the 2010 Act to replace the term ‘birth parents’ with ‘parents’ and to clarify that the reference to parents in section 59 is a reference to a child’s birth parents only.
Succession
Where an adopted person or an adopter dies intestate, his or her property shall devolve as if the adopted person were the child of the adopters born to them in lawful wedlock and not the child of any other person. In any disposition of property, including by will, after the date of the adoption order, a reference to the child or children of the adopter or adopters shall be read as including a reference to the adopted person.
For the purposes of the devolution of any property or where an adopter or adopted child dies intestate, an adopted person shall be deemed to be related to any other child (whether adopted or not) of both spouses as brother or sister of the whole blood and in any other case as a brother or sister of the half-blood.
A disposition made by will or codicil executed before the date of the adoption order shall not be treated as made after that date by reason only that the will or codicil is confirmed by a codicil executed after that date.
Interpretation of Documents
A reference in any disposition of real or personal property made, whether by instrument inter vivos or by will (including codicil), made after the date of the adoption order or the recognition of an intercountry adoption effected outside the State to the child or children of the birth parents after the date of the adoption order shall be read as not including a reference to the adopted person.
Any reference in any disposition of real or personal property made, whether by instrument inter vivos or by will (including codicil), made after the date of the adoption order or the recognition of an intercountry adoption effected outside the State to a person related to the adopted person in any degree shall be read as a reference to the person who would be related if the adopted person was the child, born in lawful wedlock, of the adopters.
Stamp Duty
Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 amended section 60 of the 2010 Act to apply the provisions regarding property rights and stamp duty on conveyances or transfers of land to a situation in which a child has been adopted jointly by a civil partnered couple or cohabiting couple who have lived together for 3 years. Section 123 of the 2015 Act is repealed by The 2017 Act.
The 2017 Act amends section 60 of the 2010 Act to provide that for the purposes of this section, an adopted person is to be regarded as the child of his or her adopter and not the child of his or her pre-adoption parents. The section provides that references to adopters who are a couple includes adopters who were married to each other, civil partners of each other or a cohabiting couple at the time the adoption order concerned was made but who are no longer married to each other, civil partners of each other or living together as a cohabiting couple, as the case may be at the time of the disposition of the property concerned.
2010 Act provides that for the purposes of stamp duties chargeable on conveyances or transfers of land, an adopted person shall be considered as the child of the adopter or adopters born to him, her or them in lawful wedlock.
For the purposes of stamp duty chargeable on conveyances or transfers of land, an adopted person is regarded as the child of his or her adopter or adopters and not the child of any other person.