In re the Estate of Best

I would hold that statutory law and the unqualified use of the term "issue” in the testatrix’s will compels the conclusion that her adopted-out grandson is entitled to an equal share of the trust fund the testatrix created under her will.

Adoption was unknown to the common law and is solely a creature of statute. (See, Matter of Robert Paul P., 63 NY2d 233, 237; Matter of Thorne, 155 NY 140, 143.) New York’s adoption laws, first enacted in 1873, initially provided that an adopted child had no right of inheritance from the adoptive parents (L 1873, ch 830, § 10). Several years later, adopted…