Matter of Estate of Van Cleave

HIGGINS, Judge.

J. Wallace Van Cleave and Elizabeth V. Van Cleave appeal the denial of their petition for a decree that they had been equitably adopted by Irene Savage Van Cleave, deceased, and that as a result they were entitled to be treated as “legally adopted” children of decedent for purposes of an inheritance tax determination under § 145.-060.1(1), RSMo 1978, 1 on property inherited from decedent. The trial court properly found that petitioners are not entitled to a decree of equitable adoption and therefore whether equitably adopted children are “legally adopted” as that term is used…