DelawareSB 123 w/ SA 1153rd General Assembly (2024–2026)Senate

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 12 AND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF ISSUE AND POSTHUMOUS CHILDREN

Sponsored By: Spiros Mantzavinos (Democratic)

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

After-born children get inheritance rights

A child born after a parent signs a will inherits as if there were no will, unless the will clearly says later births do not change it. The rule applies when the child is born after the will but before the parent’s death. If that child dies before the parent, the child’s descendants take that share.

Inheritance rights for posthumous children

A child in utero when a parent dies counts as living at death if born alive and survives at least 120 hours. A child conceived by assisted reproduction after death also counts only if all are true: the parent died before reproduction began; the child survives 120 hours; the personal representative knew of plans to use the parent’s genetic material within 6 months; and either an embryo is in utero within 36 months or the child is born within 45 months. The law defines assisted reproduction (not sexual intercourse) and the gestational period. These rules cannot be used to make the State take the estate.

Who inherits when there is no will

If there is no valid will (or for the part not going to a spouse), the order is: children and their descendants by branch (per stirpes); if none, parent or parents equally; if none, brothers and sisters and their descendants by branch; if none, next of kin and their descendants by branch. When two or more people inherit property, they take as tenants in common. If you are related to the decedent through more than one line, you get only one, largest share; for other lines you are treated as having died first.

Who counts as a child or parent

For inheritance, “child” and “parent” follow Delaware’s parentage rules in Title 13, Chapter 8. An adopted person is the child of the adoptive parent; a step-parent adoption does not cut off the tie to the natural parent who is the spouse. A child born outside marriage is the mother’s child, and is also the father’s child if there is legitimation, a marriage ceremony by the parents, or a court finding of paternity. The father or his relatives can inherit through the child only if he openly treated the child as his and did not refuse support. Wills and trusts use these definitions unless they say otherwise; “issue” means per stirpes, and adopted people count as issue of the adoptive line. Old illegitimacy rules in Title 13 are repealed.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Spiros Mantzavinos
Democratic • Senate

Cosponsors

William Bush
Democratic • House
John "Jack" Walsh
Democratic • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 61 • No: 0

House vote • 6/30/2025

Passed (SM required)

Yes: 40 • No: 0

Senate vote • 6/24/2025