12

Under Article 7 of Organic Law no. 2004-192 of February 27, 2004, on the autonomous status of French Polynesia, legislative and regulatory provisions relating to personal status and legal capacity automatically apply. The rules governing adoption, since filiation is considered part of personal status, therefore apply ipso jure in French Polynesia (pts 10 and 11). According to Article 370-5 of the French Civil Code, an adoption validly pronounced abroad produces the effects of a full adoption in France if it entirely and irrevocably severs the pre-existing filial bond. Failing that, it produces the effects of a simple adoption (pt 12). Under Texan law, adoption entails the cessation and extinction of all legal ties, rights, and duties between the child and their biological parents, yet the adopted child remains entitled to inherit from both adoptive and biological parents. It follows that the adoption of the consorts [V], who did not completely sever their filial ties with their family of origin, could only produce the effects of a simple adoption, governed by Articles 363 et seq. of the French Civil Code (pts 13 and 14).