A. Rights and duties of parents and capacity to marry

Section 13 of the Adoption Ordinance provides:

1. Upon an adoption order being made–

1. all rights, duties, obligations and liabilities of the parents (other than a parent referred to in section 5(1)(c) if the order is made under that section) or guardians of the infant in relation to the future custody, maintenance and education of the infant (in this section referred to as “ the relevant matters”), including all rights to appoint a guardian to consent or give notice of dissent to marriage, shall be extinguished;
2. all the relevant matters shall vest in and be exercisable by and enforceable against the adopter, as if-
   1. where the order is made under section 5(1)(c) , the infant were a child born to the adopter and the parent referred to in that section in lawful wedlock;
   2. in any other case, the infant were a child born to the adopter in lawful wedlock; and
3. in respect of the relevant matters-
   1. where the order is made under section 5(1)(c), the infant shall stand to the adopter and that parent exclusively in the position of a child born to them in lawful wedlock;
   2. in any other case, the infant shall stand to the adopter exclusively in the position of a child born to the adopter in lawful wedlock.

1. In any case where–
   1. a married couple is the adopter; or
   2. the adopter’s spouse is the birth parent referred to in section 5(1)(c) ,then, in respect of the relevant matters, and for the purposes of the jurisdiction of any court whatsoever to make orders as to the custody and maintenance of and right of access to children–
   3. the spouses, or the adopter and the spouse, as the case may be, shall stand to each other and to the infant in the same relation as they would have stood if the infant had been born to them in lawful wedlock; and
   4. the infant shall stand to them in the same relation as to a lawful father and mother.
2. For the purpose of the law relating to marriage, an adopter and the person whom he has been authorized to adopt under an adoption order shall be deemed to be within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity; and the provisions of this subsection shall continue to have effect even if a person other than the adopter is authorized by a subsequent order to adopt the same infant.

B. Intestacies, Wills and Settlements

Section 15 provides:

1. Where, at any time after the making of an adoption order, the adopter or the adopted person or any other person dies intestate (dies without a will) in respect of any property, that property shall devolve (pass to other persons) in all respects-
   1. 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
   2. 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.

2. In any disposition of property made, whether by instrument inter vivos (instruments made between living perons) or by will (including codicil, which means any written amendments to the will), after the date of an adoption order-
   1. 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;
   2. 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
   3. 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-
      1. subject to subparagraph (ii), if the adopted person were the child of the adopter;
      2. 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.
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.