Practical guides · The law
What a child born outside marriage inherits, country by country
From the mother, the child inherits in most of these countries. From the father, it depends on two things: the law that applies to your family, which can depend on your faith, and whether the father’s link to the child is made in law. Where wills are allowed, a will that names the child is the strongest protection.
“Inherit” here means what the child receives when a parent dies without a will. A will can change this, within the limits of each law.
India
Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. The Hindu Succession Act 1956 says that children born outside marriage are “deemed to be related to their mother and to one another” (s.3(1)(j)). So, without a will, the child inherits from the mother and her side, but not from the father or his family.
Wills under the Indian Succession Act 1925. In such a will, words like “child”, “son” or “daughter” mean only a child born in marriage, unless the will says otherwise (s.100). A gift to “my children” can leave out a child born outside marriage. A child who is named in the will receives what the will gives. So a father who wants the child to inherit should name the child.
Muslims. We could not find an official text or a court judgment on this under Muslim personal law in India, so we give no rule here.
Malaysia
Muslims (faraid). The child and the mother inherit from each other. The child does not inherit from the biological father or his family, and they do not inherit from the child. This follows the national fatwa of 2003, as explained by the Ministry of Health in Selangor. The father may still give the child a gift during his life, or leave a wasiat (will) within the limits of faraid. The Syariah court decides disputes.
Non-Muslims. Under the Legitimacy Act 1961, s.11(1), the child inherits from the mother as if born in marriage, but only if she dies without a will and leaves no children born in marriage. If you later marry and have more children, this right is lost, so a will matters. We found no right to inherit from the father without a will. A will can provide for the child.
Indonesia
Muslims. Under the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI), the child has nasab (family lineage) only with the mother and her family (art. 100), and inherits only from them (art. 186). MUI Fatwa No. 11 of 2012 says the same, but adds that the government may require the man to provide for the child and to leave the child property after his death by wasiat wajibah, a mandatory bequest. This protects the child without creating nasab. The Religious Court (Pengadilan Agama) decides.
Non-Muslims. Under the Civil Code (KUHPerdata), only a child recognised in law inherits from the father (art. 862). The share is smaller than a child born in marriage: one third of that child’s share when there are children born in marriage or a spouse, more when there are only other relatives (art. 863). Since 2013, recognition at the civil registry is open only to parents with a religious marriage not yet registered (Law 24/2013, art. 49(2)). The Constitutional Court (decision 46/PUU-VIII/2010) lets a court link a child to the father by DNA or other proof. How this changes the shares is not settled.
Thailand
A child born to an unmarried woman is by law her lawful child (Civil and Commercial Code, s.1546), so the child inherits from her. From the father, the child inherits if he made the child his lawful child: by marrying the mother, by registering the child at the district office with the mother’s and the child’s consent, or by a court judgment (s.1547, s.1548). A child he has openly acknowledged also counts as his descendant (s.1627). The Supreme Court has accepted his name on the birth record, the use of his surname, or paying for the child’s care as acknowledgment. Without any of these, the child inherits from him only by will.
Vietnam
The Civil Code 2015 puts the dead person’s biological and adopted children in the first rank of heirs, with equal shares (art. 651). It makes no difference whether the parents were married. What matters is the legal link. With the mother, it comes from the birth. With the father, it comes from recognition at the civil status office or from a court decision (Law on Marriage and Family 2014, arts 91 and 101). A clinic sperm donor has no legal link to the child (art. 93), so the child does not inherit from him.
Cambodia
Under the Civil Code (in force 2011), children are first-rank heirs with equal shares, “regardless of whether they are natural or adopted” (art. 1156). The father’s acknowledgment counts back to the birth (art. 999), so an acknowledged child inherits from him like any child. He can acknowledge the child with the family registration official, by signing the birth register as father, or by will (arts 997 and 998). A child acknowledged only after the estate is shared can claim only the value of the share (art. 1274). So it is better done early.
Laos
Under the Civil Code (in force since May 2020), the dead person’s offspring are first-order heirs (arts 574 and 575). The child always inherits from the mother. With the father, the link is made by “affiliation”: a joint request in which he acknowledges the child and the mother agrees, or a court decision, which can rest on biological evidence (art. 197). The link then counts from birth, so the child counts as his offspring. We found no text on a child who was never affiliated.
Myanmar
We could not find a primary text or a court decision on what a child born outside marriage inherits from the father, and the sources we found disagree. The Child Rights Law 2019 gives every child “the right to inheritance according to law” (s.19(k)), but does not say what that law gives.
What protects the child
- A birth certificate with your name as the mother. It proves the child’s link to you. See registering the birth.
- The father’s link made in law, during his life, where the law allows it and you both want it. For example, registration at the district office in Thailand, recognition in Vietnam, acknowledgment in Cambodia, affiliation in Laos. For Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia, this does not give inheritance from the father. See the father’s name and support.
- A will that names the child by name, where the law allows wills, within the limits of your law and faith.
- Papers kept safe: the birth certificate, any recognition or court decision, and a note of where the will is kept.
Checked October 2026. Inheritance also depends on your faith and on what the person who died decided. Laws change: check the rules in force in your country.
Sources
- India: Hindu Succession Act 1956, s.3(1)(j); Indian Succession Act 1925, s.100 and illustrations (Tripura High Court library copy), checked October 2026.
- Malaysia: Ministry of Health Selangor, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah leaflet on children born out of wedlock, 2010; Legitimacy Act 1961 (Act 60), s.11 (Attorney General’s Chambers reprint), checked October 2026.
- Indonesia: Kompilasi Hukum Islam (Inpres No. 1/1991), arts 100, 186; MUI Fatwa No. 11 of 2012, 10 March 2012 (mui.or.id); KUHPerdata arts 862, 863; Law No. 24 of 2013, art. 49(2); Constitutional Court decision 46/PUU-VIII/2010, 17 February 2012 (mkri.id), checked October 2026.
- Thailand: Civil and Commercial Code, ss.1546, 1547, 1548, 1627, with Supreme Court decisions 7272/2562 and 9313/2559 (consolidated text, legardy.com), checked October 2026.
- Vietnam: Civil Code No. 91/2015/QH13, art. 651; Law on Marriage and Family No. 52/2014/QH13, arts 91, 93, 101, checked October 2026.
- Cambodia: Civil Code 2007, arts 997–999, 1156, 1274 (JICA English translation, unofficial; the Khmer text is authoritative), checked October 2026.
- Laos: Civil Code 2018, arts 197, 574, 575 (English translation, FAOLEX), checked October 2026.
- Myanmar: Child Rights Law 2019, s.19(k) (IOM unofficial English translation), checked October 2026.
In Option A, he plans to name the child in his will. See if he dies.