Recently, Yang Jiang and Zhao Ma represented a client in a foreign legal succession dispute. The client in the United States there is an adoption relationship, according to China's relevant legal provisions of the establishment of the adoption relationship that is excluded from the inheritance rights of the biological parents of the unfavorable conditions, the attorney guided the client according to the mother and the adopter of the first marriage, the adoption of the facts, that is, clear that the client and its adopters are first step-parent-child relationship, and then according to the U.S. law in order to safeguard the client (at that time was a 12-year-old boy) The main evidence of the fact that the adoptive relationship was formed by changing the client's name in the best interest of the client (a 12-year-old boy at that time) was certified at three levels, from the county, state to the U.S. Department of State. At the same time, we successfully persuaded the court and the other party to confirm the fact that the client and his adopter were firstly step-parent-child relationship according to Chinese law, which resulted in the client's legal heir status not being excluded by his adoption relationship in the U.S., and ultimately succeeded in obtaining a satisfactory share of the inheritance property.

1

Brief description of the case

Yuan was born in Beijing, and his mother remarried Xu in the United States in 1994 due to the early death of his father. Yuan went to live with his mother in Georgia in 1996. In order to complete the immigration process and ensure a convenient life in the future, Yuan needed to take his stepfather Xu's surname, and in accordance with local law, Yuan and Xu signed legal documents related to the adoption process, which resulted in a judgment confirming that Yuan and Xu, his mother's remarried husband, had formed an adoptive son and adoptive father relationship.

Yuan's grandparents had purchased a set of public housing in 2000, located in the middle of Beijing's East 2nd Ring Road and East 3rd Ring Road, along Chang'an Street, with a market value of nearly ten million dollars, and now that both of them had passed away, the housing belonged to the inheritance.

Yuan's grandparents had three children, in addition to Yuan's father, and Yuan's uncle and aunt. Yuan's aunt has written to give up inheritance, Yuan's eldest uncle married with a son, that is, Yuan's cousin, Yuan's eldest uncle has also died. Yuan was a subrogated heir to the property in question, and Yuan's cousin was a heir apparent.

In 2021, Yuan's aunt contacted Yuan on the grounds that Yuan's cousin was going to inherit the property, claiming that she would reserve half of the inheritance share of the property for Yuan, and that the property in question would be inherited by Yuan and his brother, and thus obtained a large number of identity documents from Yuan, which contained key evidence of the adoptive paternity between Yuan and his stepfather. Subsequently, Yuan's brother immediately filed a legal succession lawsuit, and on the grounds that Yuan had been adopted, according to China's adoption law, inheritance law and other relevant laws, Yuan has lost the right and obligation relationship with his biological father and other close relatives, and petitioned to exclude Yuan's legal inheritance qualification, the property in question will be inherited by the brother of Yuan alone.

2

Focus of Dispute

The facts of this case are clear, the core of the dispute is the application of the law.

According to China's law, because Yuan's mother and Xu remarried, Yuan and Xu formed a stepchildren and stepfather relationship, and Yuan does not meet the conditions of the adoption law of China's adopted person. Based on the stepfather-son relationship, Yuan's status as a subrogated heir to the property in question is unquestionable.

However, according to the law of the state of Georgia, Yuan Mou and Xu Mou formed is the relationship between the adopted son and adoptive father, and China's Adoption Law and the Civil Code provides that the adopted child and the biological parents and other close relatives of the rights and obligations of the relationship between the establishment of the adoption relationship is eliminated, and the law on the application of the law of civil relations involving foreign countries, the adoption of the conditions and formalities, applicable to the adopter and the adopted person of the law of the place of habitual residence. (c) The law. The validity of the adoption shall be governed by the law of the place of habitual residence of the adopter at the time of adoption.

This means that once Yuan's adoption applies to the local law of the United States, he will probably lose his status as an heir and lose the large amount of property left by his grandparents.

3

Grasp the key points and take multiple actions to break through the difficulties

By comprehensively analyzing the conflict of domestic and foreign legal provisions, legal application issues and the specific circumstances of the case, the two lawyers finally chose several key breakthrough directions:

First, strengthen the fact that Yuan's mother remarried with Xu.

To this end, on the one hand, the lawyer to the court to fully explain the reasons, maximize the extension of the deadline for evidence, on the other hand, the lawyer and the client communication, the client in the United States and China epidemic repeated repeated, the United States of America, the local work efficiency is extremely low under the unfavorable circumstances of the six-month period, after six months, difficult to get the county under the jurisdiction of the state of Georgia, the state itself and the United States Department of State for the two sides of all the notarized certification of all levels of marriage certificates documents. The notarization of the marriage certificate of the two parties was notarized. In this way, it was made clear to the judge that Yuan's mother had remarried Xu first, and that the relationship between Yuan and Xu was in fact a stepparent-child relationship.

Secondly, it was emphasized that Yuan did not qualify as a domestic adoptee.

In the course of the trial and the representation, the lawyer repeatedly explained to the judge that Yuan was not an orphan, and that he did not meet the requirements of the domestic adoption law and other relevant laws on the status of the adoptee, i.e., he did not have the conditions of the adoptee according to the Chinese law.

Again, the court was fully explained that Chinese law should be applied in this case, and recognized the relationship between the two parties as stepchildren and stepfathers, and determined that Yuan had the status of heir, and that he had the right to inherit the inheritance.

After the hearing, the lawyer applied to the judge for a postponement of the evidence on the grounds that foreign-related cases are not subject to the limitations of the trial, in an attempt to gain more time for the client to supplement the evidence.

On the other hand, the attorney instructed the client to look for local laws and relevant judicial cases in the U.S., with the purpose of proving that "adoption" in the U.S. is different from "adoption" in China, and that the adopted child still retains the right to inherit from the biological father's estate. We also worked with the client to find local lawyers and scholars in the U.S. in the hope of issuing legal opinions and legal analysis based on facts, case law and legal provisions.

4

Trial Results

In the end, the case received a court judgment recently after two court sessions and nearly a year of trial process. It was found that Yuan and Xu formed a stepchild relationship under domestic law, and an adoptive child and adoptive father relationship under the local law of the U.S. However, it was not possible to prove whether "adoption" abroad and "adoption" at home had the same meaning, and it was not possible to find out whether the local term "adoption" had the same meaning. It was also impossible to ascertain whether the local term "adoption" affected the inheritance of the biological father's estate, which was a case of not being able to ascertain the law of a foreign country or the law of that country, so it was determined that the laws of the People's Republic of China should be applied in this case, confirming Yuan's status as an heir and his inheritance of the corresponding share of the property.