## Facts

- Louis Joseph and his wife took Kim Barnum-Smith into their home when she was about three years old and raised her as a foster child.
- The Josephs repeatedly sought to adopt Barnum-Smith but could not obtain the biological parents’ consent, which was legally required.
- The Josephs later stopped pursuing adoption while Barnum-Smith was still a minor, but they continued a parent-like relationship into her adulthood, including financial support and participation in life events.
- Joseph executed a will leaving his estate to his wife and not mentioning Barnum-Smith; the wife predeceased him and Joseph did not revise the will.
- Joseph died intestate; Barnum-Smith petitioned to be deemed Joseph’s “child” for intestate succession under Probate Code § 6454; Joseph’s brother opposed the petition.
- The probate court denied the petition and the Court of Appeal affirmed on the view that any legal barrier had to persist until the decedent’s death.

## Issues

1. Whether Probate Code § 6454 requires that the “legal barrier” to adoption persist until the foster parent’s death, or whether it is enough that the barrier existed when adoption was contemplated or attempted.
2. Whether Barnum-Smith proved by clear and convincing evidence that Joseph would have adopted her but for a legal barrier, as required by § 6454.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of California affirmed the judgment denying Barnum-Smith’s petition.
- The court held § 6454 does not require the legal barrier to continue until the foster parent’s death; the relevant inquiry is whether a legal barrier prevented adoption when adoption was realistically contemplated or attempted.
- Applying that interpretation, the court concluded Barnum-Smith failed to prove the required causal connection between any legal barrier and Joseph’s failure to adopt.

## Legal Principles

- Intestate succession rights exist only as provided by statute; § 6454 creates a limited path for certain foster children and stepchildren to be treated as “children” for intestacy.
- Probate Code § 6454 requires (1) a relationship beginning in the claimant’s minority and continuing throughout the joint lifetimes of claimant and foster parent/stepparent, and (2) clear and convincing evidence the foster parent/stepparent would have adopted the claimant but for a legal barrier.
- A “legal barrier” must be a constraint imposed by law (for example, required parental consent); practical difficulties or private choices do not qualify.
- The legal-barrier element is a causation requirement: if adoption becomes legally possible and is not pursued, that failure may defeat a claim that law, rather than choice, caused the nonadoption.

## Conclusion

The court rejected an interpretation that would require a legal barrier to adoption to last until the decedent’s death, but still denied intestate-child status because the claimant did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent would have adopted her and was prevented from doing so by a legal barrier.


Estate of Joseph, 949 P.2d 472 (Cal. 1998)