An Illinois appellate court has ruled equitable adoption cannot make someone "next of kin" under the Wrongful Death Act.
The September 14 decision from the First District arose from the 2017 death of a 55-year-old man. He fractured his ankle in December 2016 and underwent surgery. An infection followed, requiring a second operation. After admission to a rehabilitation facility in March 2017, his medical providers failed to keep him on blood-thinning medication. He developed deep vein thrombosis, and a clot reached his pulmonary artery, causing his death on May 3, 2017.
The decedent had raised another person from infancy, consistently presenting him as his son and participating in major parenting decisions, but never pursued legal adoption. A post-death DNA test found no biological relationship. He died intestate with no biological or legally adopted children.
His cousin, the closest blood relative, filed a wrongful death action as estate administrator against multiple defendants including Advocate Health and Hospitals Corporation. The estate argued the person the decedent raised qualified as "next of kin" through equitable adoption - a probate doctrine that lets informally adopted individuals inherit through intestate succession.
After settlements with a healthcare facility ($163,000) and pharmacy defendants ($435,000), the estate tried the case against Advocate Health alone. The circuit court had already granted Advocate Health summary judgment on equitable adoption and barred loss-of-society evidence for the person the decedent had raised. A jury awarded the administrator approximately $100,000 plus burial expenses as sole statutory beneficiary.
The appellate court traced Illinois Supreme Court precedent. DeHart v. DeHart (2013 IL 114137) first recognized equitable adoption as a path to intestate inheritance. In re Parentage of Scarlett Z.-D. (2015 IL 117904) then confined the doctrine strictly to probate contexts. The appellate panel held that limitation extends to wrongful death with equal force.
The Wrongful Death Act expressly includes children adopted under the Adoption Act but makes no mention of equitable adoption. The court rejected constitutional equal protection challenges, finding the statutory distinction survives rational basis review.
On damages, the court upheld Advocate Health's entitlement to a setoff from the prior settlements - all arising from the same wrongful death claim - and ruled prejudgment interest must be calculated on the net judgment after setoff, not on the full verdict.
The statutory beneficiary pool in Illinois wrongful death claims remains limited to surviving spouses and legal next of kin, with no extension for equitable adoption.
