21 Oct Niece Cries Uncle – Finding Him 73 Years After His Kidnapping – What Are His Inheritance Rights?
Alida Alequin, 63, cried tears of joy after her efforts to find her uncle, Luis Albino, 73 years after he was kidnapped, resulted in a family reunion. Albino was 6 years old when he was abducted from an Oakland, California park while playing with his older brother Roger. The woman who kidnapped him treated him as a son as he grew up on the East Coast.
Although the Oakland police and FBI were initially unsuccessful in solving this cold case, Alequin took a DNA test, which resulted in a potential match. After reviewing photos (which showed a fantastic resemblance to Albino’s mother and his brother) and old newspaper articles, she took her findings to the Oakland police. The police turned over the information to the FBI, who then found Albino, which resulted in the family reunion. Albino’s brother, Roger, died 2 weeks after seeing him in August.
If the woman who raised Albino failed to have a will, would he inherit under “adoption by estoppel”? Obviously, he could not have been adopted since his birth parents did not give permission to the abducting mother to raise him. So although Texas law sometimes permits a child who was raised by someone other than a blood parent to be “adopted by estoppel” and thus inherit from that non-blood “parent”, that wouldn’t be applicable in this case since the blood parent failed to request or permit the non-blood “parent” to raise the blood parent’s child. However, if the blood parents died without a will, then all of their children (including the one abducted) should be considered heirs at law. Similarly, if the abducted child was not married and never had children and his parents predeceased him, then his siblings would be his heirs if he had no will (under Texas law) even though he had not seen them or perhaps even met a younger sibling in 73 years.
If Albino was a Texas resident, it raises the question of what his inheritance rights would be. Who would inherit from him if he failed to have a will?
If Albino was married and owned separate real estate property (i.e., property acquired before marriage, or received by gift or inheritance or pursuant to a pre-or-post nuptial agreement) and failed to have a will, then his surviving spouse would inherit ½ of the real estate and his surviving siblings would receive the other ½ if his parents predeceased him under Texas law. If his parents had survived him, then they would inherit ½, and his surviving spouse would inherit the other ½. If Albino was married and had children and he had real estate that was separate property, and he died without a will, then his surviving spouse would be entitled to a 1/3 life estate, and his children would share the balance. Even if the real estate was community property and Albino was survived by a wife, the real estate would be split between his wife and children if he had children of a different relationship and passed without having a valid will.
Of course, Albino was not a Texas resident. However, the examples above show the importance of you making your own decisions on how your assets pass at your death instead of letting the state make the decision for you.
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