The relationship can be established by blood, by law in certain cases, or by a judgment of adoption.
When an adoption takes place under the laws of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom, a complete transfer of filiation takes place.
[4] In other nations, a form of "incomplete adoption" may allow filiation with the biological family to remain.
One example of this is the Satnam Parmar Adoption Termination Act (1990) that was passed in the provincial legislature of Alberta, Canada.
[6]Another instance involving the legal transfer of filiation in adoption occurs in cases where adult adoptees and their biological families restore their original filiation via adult adoption.