Court Opinion

ID: 9552945
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:19:32.361001+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:24.672507
License: Public Domain

VAN HOOMISSEN, J.,
dissenting.
I dissent.
The result reached by the majority seems patently unjust to me. I believe there is a strong presumption that *464Louis Wachsmuth wanted all his son Richard’s biological children to be treated alike.1 That intent should control here. The majority’s result frustrates his presumed intent. Furthermore, there is not a scintilla of evidence in the record the biological or adoptive parents ever consciously intended to deprive appellant of an opportunity to share in his grandfather’s estate.2 No substantial public purpose is served by such a narrow construction of our statute in the context of this case.

 Appellant was bom in 1952. Louis Wachsmuth executed his will in 1955 and died in 1957. Appellant was adopted in 1959. Therefore, Louis Wachsmuth had no opportunity to express his intent on the issue raised here.

 There is no evidence in the record that the matter of the appellant’s interest in his grandfather’s estate and the legal implications of his adoption vis-a-vis that interest were disclosed to the adoption court or that they were even considered by the biological or adoptive parents. Appellant was age seven at the time he was adopted.