Q: Does an abandoned child have any rights to the absent parents estate after death?
My niece was orphaned by her mother and abandoned by her father. Her father is remarried with a step child. Wondering if she, as now an adult, has rights to any of his estate when he dies? Dad left her at age 7, mother died at age 16. I raised her until able to be on her own. She has fetal alcohol syndrome. She has some difficulty with common reasoning and could use some security for her future that I can not provide.
A: If a valid will exists, the interests of children, as heirs at law, may be superseded. If a valid will does not exist, an heir at law continues to be an heir and may have an interest in the estate, despite having been abandoned. If the father were he to marry again, the new spouse would have certain spousal rights that could be exercised against the estate; again, the heir at law may have an interest in the estate.
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