§ 15-7-16 - Inheritance by and from adoptive kindred.
SECTION 15-7-16
§ 15-7-16 Inheritance by and from adoptivekindred. – (a) A child lawfully adopted shall be deemed, for the purpose of inheritance bythe child and his or her descendants from the parents by adoption and thelineal and collateral kindred of the parents by adoption, and for the purposeof inheritance by the parents by adoption, and the lineal and collateralkindred of the parents by adoption, from the child and his or her descendants,and for all other legal consequences and incidents of the natural relation ofparents and children, except as provided in § 15-7-17, the child of theparents by adoption the same as if he or she had been born to them in lawfulwedlock. In the construction of any instrument, whether executed before orafter May 8, 1956, a child so adopted and the descendants of the child shall bedeemed within a limitation to the lawful heirs, issue, children, descendants,or the like, as the case may be, of the parent or parents by adoption, unless acontrary intention shall appear by the terms of the instrument or unless theparticular estate so limited has vested in and as to the person or personsentitled to it on April 20, 1962; provided, that this sentence shall not applyin the construction of any instrument as to any child who is over the age ofeighteen (18) years at the time of his or her adoption and who is adopted afterthe death of the maker of the instrument.
(b) When an adopted child is related by blood to the parentor parents by adoption, he or she and his or her descendants shall be entitledto inherit from and through the parent or parents only as an adopted child ordescendants of an adopted child and not by virtue of the blood relationship.