ABSTRACT
Family relationships play an important role in the law of succession. The question of the rights of succession conferred on persons with a particular status is separate from the question whether a person has acquired a particular status under foreign law which will be recognised in an English court. In English law, a child has traditionally been regarded as legitimate at birth if his or her parents were married at the time of his or her conception or at the time of his or her birth. Where an English court has to consider the effect on rights of succession of an adoption order made outside England and Wales, it must first consider whether the adoption is entitled to recognition under the provisions of the Adoption Act 1976. If the foreign adoption order satisfies the requirements for recognition then the court will have to consider what rights of succession are conferred as a result of the adoption order.
