Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: child inheritance

Just to clarify; a child of the body of a man or woman is the same as a child produced during marriage. So a child born out of wedlock is treated as the same as children born to a married couple [if that were not true, children born before their parents married each other would be excluded from inheriting].

At some point, you are going to have to consider if you will approach the biological father to decide whether or not your son will be introduced to his two other children, should you enforce you rights to child support if you have not already done so [it is for the benefit of your child, so even if you do not want to enforce it, you should still probably do it, although it might result in your child being disinherited]. Also realize that if something about identifying him as the biological father of your child is not done before he dies, without evidence, such as DNA testing [which his family will oppose], how are you going to prove he was the father?

Re: child inheritance

If you have not already done so, you need to establish by court order or declaration of paternity that the alleged father is the legal father of the child. Otherwise, the burden of proof will be on your son to establish paternity.

Re: child inheritance

If the father does not make a will or transfer all of his assets into a living trust, and if he dies, his assets will pass by intestacy. In that case, his spouse will receive 1/3 of his estate and his children will split 2/3. Of course his estate will be only 1/2 of the community estate that he has with his wife. If he makes a will or a trust, it will depend upon what he chooses to leave his son with you. He can disinherit him if he chooses.