## Facts

- Napoleon and Hershey Franklin were the minor children of their mother from a prior marriage; she had custody after divorce.
- In 1961, their mother married Booker T. Washington, and the Franklins lived with the couple.
- The Franklins kept their biological father’s surname and had limited contact with him before his death.
- Washington acted as a caring stepfather but never completed a statutory adoption.
- Washington died intestate after the Franklins’ mother predeceased him.
- Dorothy W. Gilchrist, Washington’s sister, sought appointment as administratrix of his estate.
- The Franklins filed a caveat, claiming they were Washington’s “virtually adopted” children, entitled to inherit his estate and to displace Gilchrist as estate representative.
- The Franklins presented no evidence of an express agreement by Washington to adopt them with either their mother or their biological father (or any other person legally able to contract for their adoption).

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove virtual adoption and thereby confer intestate heirship on the Franklins.
2. Whether, in particular, the Franklins produced evidence of an adoption agreement between Washington and a person competent to contract for their adoption, as required under Georgia law.
3. Whether the superior court properly granted a directed verdict for Gilchrist based on insufficiency of evidence on the adoption-agreement element.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the superior court’s directed verdict for Gilchrist.
- The court held there was no evidence authorizing a finding that Washington ever entered into an adoption agreement with any person legally competent to contract for the Franklins’ adoption.
- The court rejected reliance on Washington’s de facto parenting and household relationship as proof of a contract to adopt, particularly in the step-parent context.
- As a result, the Franklins were not recognized as virtually adopted heirs, and Gilchrist remained administratrix.

## Legal Principles

- Virtual (equitable) adoption requires proof of an adoption agreement between the alleged adoptive parent and a person competent to contract for the child’s disposition.
- Evidence of affection, support, co-residence, or treatment of a child as one’s own does not establish virtual adoption without evidence of the underlying adoption agreement.
- When the alleged adoptive parent is a step-parent, the domestic relationship arising from marriage to the custodial parent does not itself supply the contractual element required for virtual adoption.
- A directed verdict is proper when, viewing the evidence most favorably to the claimant, there is no evidence of an essential element (here, the adoption agreement with a competent contracting party).

## Conclusion

Because the Franklins failed to present any evidence of an adoption agreement with their mother, their biological father, or any other legally competent person, they could not prove virtual adoption and therefore could not inherit from Washington’s intestate estate or prevent Gilchrist’s appointment as administratrix.


Franklin v. Gilchrist, 491 S.E.2d 361 (Ga. 1997)