Florida Statute 732.108
“Adopted persons and persons born out of wedlock”
What it means
This section decides who counts as a descendant when adoption or birth outside marriage is in the family tree. An adopted person is a full descendant of the adopting parents and their whole family — and, with three narrow exceptions, is cut off from the birth family for inheritance purposes, in both directions.
A child born outside marriage is always a descendant of the mother. The child is a descendant of the father if any one of three things is true: the parents took part in a marriage ceremony (even a void one), paternity was adjudicated before or after the father's death, or the father acknowledged paternity in writing.
- Adoption moves inheritance rights to the adoptive family and severs the birth-family line — in both directions.
- Exception: adoption by a stepparent (the spouse of a natural parent) leaves the child's rights through that natural parent and family intact.
- Adoption by a close relative (§63.172(2)) or by the surviving parent's later spouse preserves ties to a deceased natural parent's family.
- A child born outside marriage inherits from the father via a marriage ceremony (even void), an adjudication of paternity, or the father's written acknowledgment.
- Paternity may be adjudicated before or after the father's death, and chapter 95 time limits do not apply in the probate proceeding.
How it plays out
We reach for this section constantly — Florida families are blended families. Two patterns dominate. First, the adopted-out child who expects to inherit from birth parents: the statute usually says no, unless a stepparent or close-relative exception fits. Second, the child a father never formalized: DNA alone isn't the legal test, but an adjudication after death is expressly allowed, so those claims turn on evidence — a signed letter, a support order, testimony that supports a paternity finding.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 732.108 does real work:
Questions people ask
