Most states don’t have laws governing the inheritance rights of children conceived after a parent dies even as the use of assisted reproductive technologies has doubled in the U.S. over the last decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
“There are situations where it’s not so clear that a person would have wanted to be deemed a parent after death,” said Laura Twomey, who specializes in estate planning and is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York. Questions also arise over whether posthumously conceived children may benefit from a relative’s trust: “Is that what Grandma would have wanted?” Twomey said.
Rise of In Vitro Offspring Ignites Question of Rightful Heirs