Andrew Connor did not grow up Jewish. But in the course of his military career, his unit was served by a Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Hillel. After being seriously wounded and being close to death, Andrew had numerous opportunities to discuss the meaning of life with Rabbi Hillel.

Andrew recovered and returned to civilian life. The spark ignited by Rabbi Hillel led him to read about Judaism and have theological conversations with a Jewish coworker. He got married and settled in a largely Jewish neighborhood. Over the next few years, Andrew and his wife drew closer to Judaism and decided to convert. Rabbi Hillel connected Andrew with a Rav who was experienced in guiding potential converts.

After studying for two years and participating weekly in Shabbos with a host family, Andrew and his wife were referred by the guiding Rav to a beis din, which completed the conversion process. Andrew adopted the name Avraham; his wife, Sarah. Their young son, Thomas, who was converted with them, was renamed Yitzchak, reflecting the family’s new association with Judaism.

“I feel like the family of our namesakes,” Avraham said, “the first Jewish family — Avraham, Sarah and Yitzchak.”

Avraham and Sarah were later blessed with another son. “Let’s call him Yisrael,” Avraham suggested. Yaakov was born four years afterward.

Years later, Sarah passed away, leaving Avraham and their three sons. Avraham wanted his three sons to be his equal heirs. He had heard a shiur about the importance of creating a will and of the benefit to attaching documents to make the will halachically valid. He wondered, though, whether there was any need for this, since he simply wanted his assets shared equally among his three sons.

Avraham met with Rabbi Dayan and asked him, “Now that I am survived only by my three sons, is there any halachic necessity to write a will stating that my sons share the estate equally? Wouldn’t that happen anyway?”

“There certainly is a need,” answered Rabbi Dayan. “In general, a person who converted is for halachic purposes considered as a newborn child,” said Rabbi Dayan. “This means that halachically, he no longer has any lineage descending from his former relatives, including his biological father (Yevamos 62a).”

“What does that mean in terms of inheritance?” Avraham asked.

“Following this logic, a child who converted to Judaism should not inherit from his biological father,” explained Rabbi Dayan. “The child is not deemed his legal son halachically. Thus, if the father remained gentile, only his other, gentile children should inherit his estate. However, the Sages instituted that the converted Jewish son also inherit his father, lest the son revert to gentile ways to procure the inheritance (C.M. 283:1).”

“What if the father also converted, like in my case?” asked Avraham. “Would his child who also converted then inherit from him?”

“In this case, there is no concern of the child reverting, so there is no need for this institution,” said Rabbi Dayan. “Thus, ironically, the initial Torah law remains intact, and the converted child has no halachic claim to his father’s estate. Only the children he bore after he became Jewish, who are deemed his halachic sons, would inherit.”

“So what does that mean in my case?” asked Avraham.

“Only Yisrael and Yaakov, who were born after your conversion, would have a halachic claim to your inheritance,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “Yitzchak, who was born before that, has no halachic claim without a will.”

“Would Yisrael, who was firstborn after conversion, be considered my bechor, then?” asked Avraham. “Should he be getting a double portion?”

“No,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “If a man had children before conversion, his subsequent children do not have the status of bechor (C.M. 277:9). However, if you want Yitzchak to share the estate, you should prepare an explicit will and attach the appropriate documents to make the will halachically valid. You can contact my office for help in procuring the appropriate forms.”