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 When a child is adopted, he becomes the child of his adoptive parents. He inherits from and through them. That means that the adopted child will inherit from the ancestors of the parent who adopted him as well as from the parent.
The question is often asked about the inheritance rights of the child from his natural or biological parents. Generally, the adopted child inherits from his biological parents and his adoptive parents. Of course, this only applies if the parents, adoptive or biological, don't have wills. If either or both have wills, their estate goes to whomever they say in their will. Texas does not have "forced heirship." An adoptive or biological parent does not have to leave anything to his children. But if he dies intestate, then his estate would be divided between his biological and adopted children. An exception to the above rule may occur if the parental rights of the biological parent were terminated by a court order. If the termination order is silent as to inheritance, then the above rule applies. If, however, the termination order says that the child will not inherit from his biological parent, then there would be no inheritance unless the biological parent left a will specifically naming the child as a beneficiary.
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 Until 1991, illegitimate children did not inherit from their parents. In that year, the Texas Supreme Court, following an earlier ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court held that the statutes that deny inheritance rights to illegitimate children violated the Constitution's equal protection clause.
As originally enacted, the Probate Code accorded paternal inheritance rights to an illegitimate child only if the parents had married after the child's birth. The statute was amended several times to allow inheritance rights to illegitimate children if the father took some voluntary action to acknowledge the child before he died. In declaring the statute unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said "(t)he legal status of illegitimacy is, like race or national origin, a characteristic beyond an individual's control, and it bears no relation to the individual's ability to participate in and contribute to society...thus, a statutory classification based on illegitimacy violates equal protection unless it is substantially related to an important governmental interest." Finding no substantial government interest in denying inheritance rights to illegitimate children, the Supreme Court declared the statute unconstitutional.
The current Probate Code provides that illegitimate children inherit from their parents and other ancestors and descendants to the same extent as legitimate children.
Problems arise when a child is never acknowledge as a child or is unknown as a child of their biological parents. This can happen when a mother gives
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Leanr more about the inheritance rights of illegitimate children
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 In Texas, informal adoptions like informal marriages are recognized.
A formal adoption is where the court system is involved. A suit for adoption is filed. The state investigates the adopting parents to make sure that they are good candidates for adoption. The home will also be inspected to make sure that the adopted child will be provided for. Once a report is filed, the judge approves the adoption and the adopted person becomes the child of the adopting parents with the same rights as a natural born child. That means that the adopted child inherits not only from the adopting parents but through them. They will inherit from grandparents and aunts and uncles to the same degree that a natural born child would inherit from them. An informal adoption is similar to a common law marriage in that no formal legal proceedings are involved. These adoptions may be called adoption by estoppel, equitable adoption or adoption status by the courts discussing them. The courts treat these as contract cases in that once the facts are established, the heirs of the adopting parent are estopped from denying the adopted child his inheritance rights. The courts look for an enforceable agreement between the adopting parent and the adopted child, his parents or some other person in loco parentis with the child. The adopting parent agrees to adopt the adopted child then confers affection and benefits upon them and the person who agreed with the adopting parent relies upon the adopted status. |
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Read more about natural born and adopted children
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 A pretermitted child or a "forgotten child" is a child of the deceased who is born after a will is made and is not mentioned in the will. Most states have statutes that deal with this issue. In Texas, the statute provides that if the child is not otherwise provided for by the deceased parent, the child will take a portion of the estate even though he is not mentioned in the will. |
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As an easy starting point to learn about the inheritance rights of children, the following list is provided: