### Adoption Ordinance 《領養條例》

15. Intestacies, wills and settlements
(1) Where, at any time after the making of an adoption order, the adopter or the adopted person or any other person dies intestate in respect of any property, that property shall devolve in all respects—
(a) subject to paragraph (b), as if the adopted person were the child of the adopter born in lawful wedlock and were not the child of any other person; and
(b) where the order was made under section 5(1)(c), as if the adopted person were the child of the adopter and the parent referred to in that section born in lawful wedlock and were not the child of any other person. (Replaced 28 of 2004 s. 19)
(2) In any disposition of property made, whether by instrument inter vivos or by will (including codicil), after the date of an adoption order—
(a) any reference (whether express or implied) to the child or children of the adopter shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as, or as including, a reference to the adopted person;
(b) subject to subsection (3), any reference (whether express or implied) to the child or children of the adopted person’s birth parents or either of them shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as not being, or as not including, a reference to the adopted person; and
(c) any reference (whether express or implied) to a person related to the adopted person in any degree shall, unless the contrary intention appears, be construed as a reference to the person who would be related to the adopted person in that degree— (Amended 28 of 2004 s. 19)
(i) subject to subparagraph (ii), if the adopted person were the child of the adopter;
(ii) where the order was made under section 5(1)(c), if the adopted person were the child of the adopter and the parent referred to in that section,
born in lawful wedlock and were not the child of any other person. (Amended 28 of 2004 s. 19)
(3) Where the order was made under section 5(1)(c), subsection (2)(b) shall not apply in relation to the parent referred to in that section. (Added 28 of 2004 s. 19)
[cf. 1950 c. 26 s. 13 U.K.]

### Adoption Ordinance 《領養條例》

16. Provisions supplementary to section 15
(1) Notwithstanding any rule of law, a disposition made by will or codicil executed before the date of an adoption order shall not be treated for the purposes of section 15 as made after that date by reason only that the will or codicil is confirmed by a codicil executed after that date.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in section 15, trustees or personal representatives may convey or distribute any property to or among the persons entitled thereto without having ascertained that no adoption order has been made by virtue of which any person is or may be entitled to any interest therein, and shall not be liable to any such person of whose claim they have not had notice at the time of the conveyance or distribution; but nothing in this subsection shall prejudice the right of any such person to follow the property, or any property representing it, into the hands of any person, other than a purchaser, who may have received it.
(3) Where an adoption order is made in respect of a person who has been previously adopted, the previous adoption shall be disregarded for the purposes of section 15 in relation to the devolution of any property on the death of a person dying intestate after the date of the subsequent adoption order and in relation to any disposition of property made after that date.
[cf. 1950 c. 26 s. 14 U.K.]

### Adoption Ordinance 《領養條例》

17. Effect of adoption outside Hong Kong
(1) Where a person has been adopted, whether before or after the coming into operation of this section, in any place outside Hong Kong according to the law of that place, and the adoption is one to which this section applies, then for the purposes of this Ordinance and all other Hong Kong enactments, the adoption shall have the same effect as an adoption order validly made in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, and shall have no other effect.
(2) Subsection (1) shall apply to an adoption in any place outside Hong Kong (other than a Convention adoption), if— (Amended 28 of 2004 s. 20)
(a) the adoption is legally valid according to the law of that place; and
(b) in consequence of the adoption, the adoptive parents or any adoptive parent had, or, if the adopted person had been a young child, would have had, immediately following the adoption, according to the law of that place, a right superior to that of any birth parent of the adopted person in respect of the custody of the person; and
(c) either—
(i) the adoption order was made by an order of any Court whatsoever of a Commonwealth country or of the United States of America or of any State or territory of the United States of America; or
(ii) in consequence of the adoption, the adoptive parents or any adoptive parent had immediately following the adoption, according to the law of that place, a right superior to or equal with that of any birth parent in respect of any property of the adopted person which was capable of passing to the parents or any parent of the person in the event of the person dying intestate without other next of kin and domiciled in the place where the adoption was made and a national of the State which had jurisdiction in respect of that place, 
but not otherwise. (Amended 28 of 2004 s. 20)
(3) Nothing in this section shall restrict or alter the effect of any other adoption made in any place outside Hong Kong.
(4) In this section, the expression Convention adoption (公約領養) shall have the meaning assigned to it by paragraph (b) of the definition of the expression in section 20A(1) as if the reference to “section 20F” in that paragraph were a reference to “section 17”. (Added 28 of 2004 s. 20)
(Added 21 of 1960 s. 7)