Adult Adoption a High-Stakes Means to an Inheritance

ADULT adoptions, an established though infrequently used financial planning tool, have attracted increased attention as a way for gay and lesbian couples to secure an inheritance.

It is not necessary to use this strategy to transfer your own assets, which can be left to anyone you choose. But trust fund beneficiaries who do not have children of their own may be able to use adult adoption to steer trust funds to the person of their choice, rather than having the money go to their siblings, the children of their siblings or other relatives.

The stakes, financial and emotional, can be high. Unlike marriages, adoptions are extremely difficult to reverse. The strategy can backfire if a relationship ends, leaving an outsider with a share of the family fortune. And adult adoption can alienate family members by leading to distributions of family wealth in ways never contemplated by the person who set up a trust.

“If you leave things in trust, which is a great estate-planning device, you give your children the ability to some degree to manipulate that by adoption,” said David G. Keyko, a lawyer with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in New York, who has successfully represented several adopted adults in their legal battles with families. One case, involving Chandi Gail Heffner, the companion adopted by the heiress Doris Duke in 1988, was settled in 1995 for more than $65 million.

Of course, not all adult adoptions end in court battles. While statistics are scarce and these cases are unusual, lawyers say successful adoptions generally proceed below the radar.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/your-money/estate-planning/21ADOPT.html?em

Adult Adoption a High-Stakes Means to an Inheritance

Adult Adoption a High-Stakes Means to an Inheritance

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order