Law of Wills, 2016A

Mitch’s sperm to become pregnant. After Mitch’s daughter, Michelle, was born, Lisa petitioned the
estate for her 5% and for Michelle’s 25%. The estate refused to honor Lisa’s request, so she filed a
court action. What probable result?
4. Larry was rushed to the hospital after he suffered a massive heart attack. Larry did not survive the
ordeal. Larry’s girlfriend, Tessa, showed the doctors at the hospital a letter Larry had written stating
his intent to divorce his wife and to marry Tessa. The letter also stated that Larry wanted to conceive
a child with Tessa. The hospital extracted Larry’s sperm and released it to Tessa. Tessa conceived a
child using Larry’s sperm. Larry died intestate. According to the intestacy statute, if Larry died with
no surviving children, his surviving spouse is legally entitled to his entire estate. If Larry died with
surviving children, his surviving spouse is only entitled to receive one-third of the estate. In light of
the above statutes, how much of Larry’s estate is his wife entitled to receive?
6.3 Children Conceived Using Artificial Insemination
When the statutory system allocating paternal responsibility was established a family
consisted of a man, a woman and children. The primary methods used to create a family were sexual
intercourse and adoption. The availability of assisted reproductive technology permits persons to
form families in various ways. The majority of states have statutes addressing the legal status of
children conceived with the use of assisted reproductive technology. Most of the state legislatures
that have enacted statutes dealing with assisted reproduction have focused exclusively on artificial
insemination. Thus, most of the cases discussed in this section will involve the use of artificial
insemination. The statutes that exist establish the parental rights of the inseminated woman’s
husband and the sperm donor.
In order for a child to inherit under the intestacy system, there must be a legally recognized
parent-child relationship. This section examines the circumstances under which a man has a duty to
financially support a child conceived using artificial insemination. Once the law recognizes the
existence of a father-child relationship for child support purposes, the child is given the opportunity
to inherit from his or her father. If a man is financially responsible for a child during his lifetime,
that child is usually classified as his heir if he dies intestate. Once an artificially conceived child is
permitted to inherit from his or her father, the issue that must be resolved is: from which “father”
does the child have the legal right to inherit. There are two possible answers to this question. The
child may have the right to inherit from the husband of his or her mother or from the man who
donated the sperm that resulted in his or her conception.
6.4 The Paternity of the Inseminated Woman’s Husband
The legal issue becomes: Is the child the legitimate heir of the inseminated woman’s
husband? If the child is classified as legitimate, the child has the right to inherit from the man who
was married to the child’s mother at the time of the artificial insemination. Under the common law,
the child would be in the class of heirs if the child was conceived during marriage. The states that
have enacted statutes addressing the status of children conceived by artificial insemination have
taken different routes to arrive at the same answer—the child is the legitimate child of the woman’s
husband. Thus, the child has the right to inherit from and through the man.
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