QuestionsQuestions (Act No. 3977)
To reserve the property acquired by an adopted child from either adoptive parent (by adoption) in favor of the legitimate relatives of the adopting parent from whom that property originally came, particularly in cases of intestate succession.
It amended Section 768 of Act No. 190 (the Code of Civil Procedure), changing the effect of the order of adoption on inheritance rights.
The natural parents, except in the case of adoption under the second preceding section, are divested of all legal rights and obligations in respect of the child; the child is freed from obligations of obedience and maintenance toward them.
The child becomes, for all intents and purposes, the child and legal heir of the person adopting him or her, with rights and privileges and duties equivalent to a legitimate child begotten in lawful wedlock.
No. A proviso states that the adopted child still remains the legal heir of the real father and mother and their legitimate relatives by nature, subject to the special rule on property inherited through adoption.
Such property becomes the property of the legitimate relatives of the adoptive parents by adoption from whom it originally came, and they shall participate in the order established by the Civil Code for intestate estates.
It applies regardless of the general divestment rule, because it expressly preserves the adopted child’s status as legal heir of the real father and mother and their relatives by nature, with the reservation mechanism applying to specific inherited property acquired through adoption.
The father and mother and relatives by nature (not by adoption) remain the legal heirs, except as to property specifically reserved under the rule for property inherited by the adopted child from either parent by adoption.
It determines that the natural relatives by nature of the real parents remain the legal heirs, while still subject to the reserved-property rule for property inherited from adoptive parents by adoption.
It refers to relatives by blood or nature (biological relatives), as opposed to relatives created or connected only through adoption.
It does not allow that property to become freely part of the adopted child’s entire estate. Instead, it is reserved for the legitimate relatives of the adoptive parent from whom it originally came.
It repeals all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the Act.
On its approval, i.e., after December 3, 1932 when it was approved.
Students are often asked to explain how adoption generally changes parent-child legal relationships, but still preserves the adopted child’s inheritance rights as legal heir to the natural parents, with additional limitations on certain reserved properties.
You would first determine whether the asset was acquired by the adopted child from either parent “by adoption” (not by blood). If yes, then the asset is reserved for the legitimate relatives of that adoptive parent from whom it originally came, to be distributed according to the Civil Code’s order for intestate estates.