Heirs by Artficial Insemination
Does a child born after the death of the father through artificial insemination have the same status as a natural born child for social security? How about for inheritance?
The answer appears to be yes most of the time.
By Keith Pearson--------------------------------------
Netting and his wife tried to conceive children many times but could not because of fertility problems. In December 1994, Netting found out he had cancer. He delayed treatment for a couple of days so that he could deposit his semen with the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center. Netting died quickly. Ten months after Netting died, his wife gave birth to two children and applied for social security benefits for the children.
Netting was turned down by the Administrative Law Judge and the District Court because the children were not dependent on Netting when he died. The Ninth Circuit reversed finding that since they were biological legitimate children of Netting under Arizona law, they were entitled to benefits automatically.
How does this impact the title industry? The court found that these children were biological legitimate children of the deceased under state law. This would appear to vest in them certain rights of children including inheritance rights. The court referred to the case of Woodward v. Commissioner of Social Security, 435 Mass.536, 760 N.E.2d 257 which held that a posthumously conceived child could inherit from a deceased sperm donor under Massachusetts intestacy law where parentage is established and the donor consented both to reproduce posthumously and to support any resulting child.
So what do we do? If you are in a state that vests out of probate with a court order and has a statute that protects purchasers from the estate, you do not need to worry about this case in situations protected by statute. If you are in a state that vests through upon the death or someone via affidavit, or does not have a protective statute for those who take via probate order or otherwise, you may want to make part of your affidavit form a question regarding any children that may be born after death of the decedent.
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