Buzzard v. Fass

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 45a-731), ''[a] final decree of adoption . . . shall have the following effect in this state . . . (4) The adopted person shall, except as hereinafter provided, be treated as if such adopted person were the biological child of the adoptive parent for purposes of the applicability of all documents and instruments, whether executed before or after the adoption decree is issued, which do not expressly exclude an adopted person in their operation or effect.'' Pursuant further to statute (§ 45a-731 (11), ''[t]he provisions of subdivisions (1) to (9), inclusive, of this section shall apply to the estate or wills of persons dying prior to October 1, 1959, and to inter vivos instruments executed prior to said date and which on said date were not subject to the grantor's power to revoke or amend, unless (A) a contrary intention of the testator or grantor is demonstrated by clear and convincing evi- dence, or (B) distribution of the estate or under the will or under the inter vivos instrument has been or will be made pursuant to court order entered prior to October 1, 1991.'' The plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court from an order of the Probate Court overruling her objection to the approval of a periodic accounting of a testamentary trust, which had provided for distributions to the defendants, F and W, the adopted great grandnieces of the testator, T. In 1946, T executed a will and two codicils. T's will established a testamentary trust for the benefit of the descendants of his siblings. T's sister and the living issue of T's other siblings were designated as the original beneficiaries. T died in 1947, and, in 1949, the Probate Court issued a decree that transferred the ''rest, residue and remainder'' of T's estate to the trustee, so that the trustee could make distributions in accordance with the trust. W was adopted as a child in 1948 by a descendant of one of the original beneficiaries and began receiving distributions under the trust upon the d