## Facts

- Jacob Kanevsky died intestate in Florida, leaving no surviving spouse or children.
- Jacob’s only sibling, Nathan Kanevsky, predeceased him.
- Nathan had two children: Paul Kay and Zena Kanevsky (later Zena Swartz); Zena also predeceased Jacob.
- Perry Carl Swartz was Zena’s biological child and was adopted by Zena and her husband, making Perry legally Zena’s child.
- After Zena’s death, Perry’s father remarried, and Perry was later adopted by his father’s new wife (a second adoption).
- In probate, the court determined Perry was an heir and could inherit by intestacy “from the family of his deceased mother, Zena,” including from Jacob (Zena’s uncle).
- Paul Kay appealed, arguing Perry’s second adoption severed Perry’s legal ties to Zena’s family and eliminated Perry’s right to inherit from Jacob’s intestate estate.

## Issues

1. Whether a child adopted by a woman and later adopted again by another adoptive parent loses the right to inherit intestate through the first adoptive mother’s family.
2. Whether, under Florida intestacy law, Perry qualifies as an heir of Jacob Kanevsky by taking through Zena despite Perry’s subsequent adoption.

## Decision

- The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the probate court’s heirship determination.
- The court held Perry Carl Swartz remained entitled to inherit from Jacob Kanevsky’s intestate estate through Zena’s family line.
- The court rejected Paul Kay’s argument that the later adoption automatically terminated Perry’s ability to inherit via the first adoptive parent’s relatives.

## Legal Principles

- For intestate succession, an adopted child is generally treated as the child of the adoptive parent, including for inheritance through that parent’s family line.
- A subsequent adoption does not necessarily extinguish inheritance rights that flow through a prior adoptive parent’s family where Florida adoption–intestacy rules, including recognized exceptions, preserve those rights.
- In determining intestate heirs, courts apply Florida’s statutory scheme to place qualifying descendants of a predeceased sibling into the class of heirs who take from the intestate decedent.
- Probate courts may recognize an adopted child’s right to inherit through an adoptive parent’s kinship line (here, through the adoptive mother to her uncle) notwithstanding later changes in the child’s adoptive status.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed that Perry Swartz could inherit intestate from Jacob Kanevsky through Perry’s adoptive mother, Zena, and that Perry’s later adoption by a stepmother did not bar inheritance through Zena’s family.


Kay v. Swartz (In re Estate of Kanevsky), 506 So. 2d 1101 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 3d Dist. 1987)