CAP. 290]
Provisions
supplementary to section 15. 1950 c. 26, s. 14.
Effect of overseas adoption.
Adoption
[1987 Ed.
16. (1) Notwithstanding any rule of law, a disposition made by will or codicil executed before the date of an adoption order shall not be treated for the purposes of section 15 as made after that date by reason only that the will or codicil is confirmed by a codicil executed after that date.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in section 15, trustees or personal representatives may convey or distribute any property to or among the persons entitled thereto without having ascertained that no adoption order has been made by virtue of which any person is or may be entitled to any interest therein, and shall not be liable to any such person of whose claim they have not had notice at the time of the conveyance or distribution; but nothing in this subsection shall prejudice the right of any such person to follow the property, or any property representing it, into the hands of any person, other than a purchaser, who may have received it.
(3) Where an adoption order is made in respect of a person who has been previously adopted, the previous adoption shall be disregarded for the purposes of section 15 in relation to the devolution of any property on the death of a person dying intestate after the date of the subsequent adoption order and in relation to any disposition of property made after that date.
17. (1) Where a person has been adopted, whether before or after the coming into operation of this section, in any place outside Hong Kong according to the law of that place, and the adoption is one to which this section applies, then for the purposes of this Ordinance and all other Hong Kong enactments, the adoption shall have the same effect as an adoption order validly made in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, and shall have no other effect.
(2) Subsection (1) shall apply to an adoption in any place outside Hong Kong, if—
(a) the adoption is legally valid according to the law of that place; and
(b) in consequence of the adoption, the adoptive parents or any adoptive parent had, or, if the adopted person had been a young child, would have had, immediately following the adoption, according to the law of that place, a right superior to that of any natural parent of the adopted person in respect of the custody of the person; and
(c) either—
(i) the adoption order was made by an order of any Court whatsoever of a Commonwealth country or of the United States of America or of any State or territory of the United States of America; or
(ii) in consequence of the adoption, the adoptive parents or any adoptive parent had immediately following the adoption, according to the law of that place, a right