Commentary on Sections Part 1 - Adoption Chapter 4 - Status of Adopted Children Section 68: Rules of interpretation for instruments concerning property
Section 68 sets out the rules of interpretation for any instrument concerning the disposition of property. These rules are subject to any contrary indication and to Schedule 4 to the Act.
Subsection (2) applies where a disposition depends on the date of birth of a child or children of an adoptive parent(s). For the purposes of the disposition, the adopted person is to be treated as having been born on the date of the adoption order. Where two or more people have been adopted on the same date they are to be treated as if they had both been born on that date but in the order of their actual births. Subsection (3) gives examples of phrases in wills on which subsection (2) can operate.
Subsection (4) allows an adopted person to retain certain interests vested in him before his adoption. Subsection (5) provides that, where it is necessary to determine for the purposes of a disposition of property whether a woman can have a child, it is to be presumed that when she has attained 55 years of age she will not adopt a person after the execution of the instrument and, if she does, that person will not be treated as her child or, if she does so as one of a couple, as the child of the other one of the couple for the purposes of that instrument. Subsection (7) provides that section 68 does not apply to a statutory provision or other instrument passed or made before 1st October 1989.