Court: Embryo implanted in mother’s womb after father’s death not an heir
(wz) A child conceived through in vitro fertilization but implanted in his mother’s womb after his father’s death is not automatically considered his father’s heir under Arkansas’ inheritance laws, the state Supreme Court said Thursday in an advisory opinion.
The court issued the opinion in response to a request from a federal judge in an Arkansas woman’s lawsuit against the Social Security Administration over its denial of her claim for “child’s insurance benefits.”
The Supreme Court noted that the state statute governing intestacy, or the distribution of property after a person dies without a will, was enacted in 1969, before the technology of in vitro fertilization was developed, and therefore does not address the issue.
Because the law predates the technology, “we can definitively say that the General Assembly … did not intend for the statute to permit a child, created though in vitro fertilization and implanted after the father’s death, to inherit under intestate succession,” Justice Paul Danielson wrote. more…
From: »Arkansas News Bureau«