Hall v. Vallandingham
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
540 A.2d 1162 (1988)
Earl Vallandingham died in 1956, and two years later his widow remarried Jim Walter Killgore, who adopted her four children by Earl (plaintiffs). When Earl's brother William later died intestate in 1983 with no children of his own, Earl's children sought to inherit William's estate by standing in the place of their deceased natural father, Earl, who would otherwise have been an heir. William's estate representative, Joseph Vallandingham (defendant), argued the children's adoption by Killgore cut off their ability to inherit from their natural father's side of the family, and the circuit court agreed.
Whether an adopted child retains the right to inherit from a natural parent's intestate estate, or to inherit through that natural parent by way of representation, after being adopted by another person.