When Do Children Born Out of Wedlock Inherit from Their Fathers?
Matilda’s rights as a disinherited child turn on whether she is considered the “child” of Ledger under New York law. The many magazine photos of the two strolling through the park may cement the social perception of the parent-child relationship, but the legal standard is more technical. A child born to married parents is considered to be legally the child of both – and, as such, will have full inheritance rights from both parents. However, New York, like most other states, has different rules for determining legal parenthood of children born out of wedlock. A non-marital child is always considered the legal child of her mother and may thus always inherit from her. Yet such a child may only inherit from her father if steps were taken to establish the legal parent-child relationship, such as an acknowledgment of adjudication of paternity. In New York, under EPTL § 4-1.2, a man is the legal father of a non-marital child if paternity has been adjudicated by a court; the parents have ackno
