Carroll's Estate

Citations

• 219 Pa. 440
• 68 A. 1038
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 597

Syllabus

<p>Adoption — Parent and child — Parol adoption — Contract—Married woman.</p> <p>The only methods of adoption of children known to the law of Pennsylvania, are those prescribed by the Act of May 4, 1855, P. L. 430, sec. 7, as re-enacted by the Act of May 19, 1887, P. L. 125, sec. 1, and the Act of April 2, 1872, P. L. 31, sec. 2. The former provides for adoption by petition to, and decree of, the court of common pleas; and the latter for adoption by deed duly executed and recorded. There is no such thing as a parol adoption.</p> <p>Where a husband adopts a child by proceedings in the court of common pleas, but the wife is in no way a party to the proceedings, the child does not became an adopted child of the wife, so as to inherit the wife’s estate.</p> <p>The measure of damages for a breach of contract to adopt is the value of the services performed, or outlay incurred on the strength of the promise.</p> <p>Where a husband adopts a child by proceedings to which his wife was not a party, services rendered in the household by the adopted child will be presumed to be on account of the adopted father, and not for the wife.</p> <p>In 1865 a married woman, living with her husband, had no power to enter into a contract to adopt.</p> <p>The right to take property by devise or descent is the creation of the law, and not a natural right. The legal act of adoption carrying with it the right to inherit, is purely statutory, and the statute must, in cases where its provisions are applied, be strictly followed.</p> <p>Mitchell, C. J., dissents.</p>