Legal Definition and Related Resources of Equitable Adoption

under the law of certain jurisdictions a child had certain inheritance rights of estate of an individual who contracted to adopt him but did not do so. Such a contract may be in writing or oral. The theory rests upon the equitable principle that equity regards that as done which ought to have been done. means that because of the promises, acts and conduct of an intestate deceased, those claiming under or through him are estopped to assert that a child was not legally adopted or did not occupy the status of an adopted child. This doctrine has been extended to determine the entitlement of the child under the social security Act. See Meadows v Richardson, (D.C. IV. Va.)347 F. Supp. 154.

The legal process used in some states to establish inheritance rights of a child, when the prospective adoptive parent had entered into an oral contract to adopt the child and the child was placed with the parent but the adoption was not finalized before the parent died.

Learn more with the Adoption Thesaurus

Browse or run a search for Equitable Adoption in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Equitable Adoption in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Equitable Adoption in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Equitable Adoption in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

You might be also interested in these legal terms:

Meaning of Equitable Adoption

In this law dictionary, the legal term equitable adoption is a kind of the Family law class.

Resources

See Also