North Carolina Family Law Updates
The doctrine of Equitable Adoption is a judicially created “equitable” remedy that may, under very narrow circumstances,
recognize a parent-child relationship in the absence of formal legal adoption.
Under the doctrine, inheritance rights may apply as a matter of equity when and if the child’s parents die intestate and those parents intended to but failed to formally perform a legal adoption before passing away.
Such claims are closely scrutinized and rarely applied under the NC Adoption Laws – Bill Powers, Charlotte Family Law Attorney