adopted child

One having by virtue of an adoption proceeding in conformity with the statutes the legal incidents of the natural relation of parent and child. 2 Am J2d Adopt § 88. Sometimes, but not always, considered a lawful heir or legal heir. 2 Am J2d Adopt § 99. Sometimes, but not always considered lawful issue of the adoptive parent. 2 Am J2d Adopt § 98. Whether or not an adopted child is within the meaning of the word "heirs" as it appears in a deed, a trust indenture, a will or other instrument depends upon many diverse factors, especially the content and phraseology of the particular instrument involved. The express term of the statute under which the adoption took place or which fixes rights of adopted children in the distribution of intestate property or the construction placed upon the statute, may be a factor, although generally such statutes are not determinative of the right of adopted children to take under an instrument which does not expressly include adopted children as grantees or beneficiaries, but are considered merely as aids in construction. Variations in interpretation may turn upon whether the grantor or testator was, himself, the adopting parent or whether the issue involved adopted children of persons other than the testator or grantor. Fiduciary Trust Co. v Brown, 152 Me 360, 131 A2d 191. An adopted child is not considered to be an "heir of the body" in reference to the adopting parent, within the meaning of such term in a will, deed, or indenture of trust, unless the context of the instrument, considered in its entirety demands such construction. 2 Am J2d Adopt § 92. Adopted children, for whom adoption statutes create the same rights of heirship as children of the body, come within the meaning of the term "lineal descendants," as used in a statute providing for the non-lapse of a devise where the devisee predeceases the testator but leaves lineal descendants. Hoellinger v Molzohn, 77 ND 108, 41 NW2d 217, 19 ALR2d 1147.