Rights of adopted daughter when family member has Power of Attorney

[carofr]

I am the legally adopted, only daughter of a couple who brought me up for some twenty years. My step-father is now dead and since then I have had a somewhat rocky relationship with my step-mother which has led to long periods when we have not been in touch. I have always been able to be kept informed as to her well being through friends whilst I have been living abroad. I am now back in the UK and have renewed my relationship with her over the last few weeks. My meetings have been welcomed by her and we have both had the opportunity to apologise for our past behaviour and problems. I am now over 60 and she is over 90 and living in a nursing home. Whilst friendly and helpful the Nursing Home is unable to give me any information as to her health and well being, saying that they can only deal with the person who has the Power of Attorney. I believe that this is held by the daughter of my mother's sister. My mother is not well and I would love to be at her side when she dies. Apparently this is at the discretion of this person who has a vested interest in keeping me away from my Mother as I believe she thinks I will might then inherit something. She knew when my Mother was moving and made no effort to contact me and subsequently has sold and disposed of my Mother's property. I found out that my mother was in this Home only by accident, and even the photographs of my childhood have been destroyed. As my parents had a legal responsibility for my well being when I was brought up and as an adopted daughter I too had rights, am I to believe that this is now no longer the case?

 

[Vanilla]

Hi Carofr- this site is an Irish advice site and if you are in the UK, advice given here might not be relevant. You should try the equivalent UK website. On another point you refer to a step father and step mother- do you mean adoptive father and adoptive mother?

 

[onq]

Hi carofr,

Welcome to askaboutmoney.
Irish and UK law may be similar but they are not the same.
As Vanilla says, you should seek advice from people well versed in UK law.

Whoever you talk to, you need to differentiate between adoption and becoming someone's step daughter.
If you're adopted, normally you are related to neither parent by blood, but are wholly related to them by a legal adoption.

A step daughter may be related by blood to one parent but to the other through the blood parents subsequent marriage to the other person.
This is a simplistic explanation, and there are several combinations and permutations in a society which may practise sequential monogamy and divorce.

I don't know the succession rights for a stepdaughter here or in the UK.
In Ireland the adoption laws confer absolutely the same succession rights for adopted children as those who are blood related, even when there are both in the same family.
Consider speaking to a family law solicitor in the UK to get further clarity on this, and perhaps ask them to check what happened to the proceeds of the disposal of your mother's assets.

The "daugher of your mother's sister" is your mother's niece and your cousin.
She may have few succession rights in comparison to you under normal circumstances in the UK.
Succession rights may or course have been determined by the will of deceased relatives and the wishes of living ones.

ONQ

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.