A distinction must be made between the adoption of a minor and the adoption of an adult. The adoption of a minor (under German law) is also referred to as a full adoption.
Are adopted underage children treated the same as biological children?
In the case of the adoption of minors, the child is treated in the same way as the biological children of the adopting person. It is treated as a natural child and becomes the legal heir of the first order after the adopter and their parents, grandparents and other parents (full adoption).
Does the adopted child lose its status under inheritance law after its biological parents?
The adopted minor child loses its relationship to its biological parents in accordance with Section 1755 Para. 1 BGB. The adopted minor child will therefore no longer be the legal heir of their biological parents because they are no longer related to them in the legal sense.
Example: The father has a minor daughter T from a previous marriage to M and is now married to F. If T is now adopted by F with M's consent, T's relationship to her natural mother M and her parents and other relatives ceases to exist. If M dies after the adoption, T does not become the legal heir of her natural mother.
If a married couple jointly adopts a minor child or if one spouse adopts the minor child of the other spouse, the child thereby acquires the status of a joint legitimate child. In this case, the relationship of the adopted child to the other biological parent only ceases to exist in accordance with § 1755 Para. 2 BGB. In this respect, it is clear that daughter T in the above example does not lose her relationship to her father simply because she is adopted by the father's new wife. However, adoption by step-parents who are not married to each other is problematic in this respect, which is why the legislator was called upon by the Federal Constitutional Court to make new regulations (BVerfG of 26 March 2019 I 737 - 1 BvR 673/17).
Does the adopted minor child also lose his or her status under inheritance law in relation to his or her biological siblings or to other relatives provided by his or her biological parents?
The adopted minor child not only loses his or her relationship to his or her biological parents, but also, in principle, to all other relatives imparted by his or her biological parents, i.e. in particular also to his or her siblings. The adopted child will therefore under no circumstances become the legal heir of his/her biological sibling.
However, an exception applies in accordance with Section 1756 Para. 2 BGB if one spouse adopts the minor child of the other spouse and the other parent is already deceased. In this case, the relationship to the other relatives does not cease, provided that the deceased parent also had parental custody. This can lead to an increase in the potential legal inheritance for the adopted child.
Example: If the biological mother of daughter T is already deceased and the father's new wife adopts the underage daughter T, the daughter's relationship to her maternal grandparents does not cease. If the maternal grandfather dies after the adoption, T remains the legal heir of her maternal grandfather. At the same time, however, T also becomes the legal heir of her adoptive mother and her parents. This means that T potentially has not just two pairs of grandparents, but three, according to whom she can be a legal heir, namely the parents of her biological mother, the parents of her adoptive mother and, of course, the parents of her father.
What is the effect if the minor child is related to the same person in more than one way as a result of the adoption?
If a minor child is adopted by a relative or relative by marriage in the second or third degree, the adopted child also only loses the relationship to its biological parents and not to the other relatives. This can result in multiple relationships.
Example: The underage son S is adopted by his maternal aunt T after the accidental death of his mother M and father. The father of aunt T and mother M, i.e. the grandfather of the adopted child, also survives aunt T. T has another child K. As the adopted son S's family relationships, which were established through his biological parents, are not extinguished by the adoption, S is related to his grandfather both through his deceased biological mother M and through his adoptive mother T, who is also deceased. If the grandfather now dies, S inherits ½ of the grandfather's estate through his natural mother's line and ¼ through his adoptive mother's line, so that he receives a total of ¾. C, on the other hand, is only ¼ of his grandfather's estate. This results from Section 1927 BGB, which stipulates that the person who belongs to several tribes receives the share accruing to him in each tribe and that these are special inheritance shares in each case.
Does the adopted person also lose their kinship status to their biological parents and other biological relatives in the case of adult adoption?
In the case of the adoption of adults, the effects in accordance with Section 1770 Para. 1 Sentence 1 BGB do not extend to the relatives of the adopter. This is predominantly not a full adoption. This is only possible in exceptional cases upon application. When adults are adopted, they become the legal heirs of the adopter. However, the adoptee does not therefore also become the legal heir after the parents of the adopter or after other relatives of the adopter.
The adopted person also remains related to his or her biological parents and other relatives with all rights, i.e. also becomes their legal heir. It should therefore be noted that assets bequeathed to a child adopted at the age of majority may pass to their biological family if the adopted child dies childless and has not made any other testamentary disposition.