When a parent dies, his or her children can claim social benefits based on their parents social security contributions until they become adults. In a case decided May 21, 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled that children born eighteen months after the death of the parent by IVF, In vitro fertilisation, were not entitle to claim benefits under their deceased parent's social security earnings.
The case was based partially on Florida's inheritance laws which state that a child born after the death of a parent may inherit from the parent only if they were conceived during the parent's lifetime. Prof. Beyer of the Texas Tech Law School asked the question of what would the ruling be if the wife had implanted a frozen embryo instead. Since conception would have taken place before the husband's death, would the court have made the same decision when the child was born long after the father's death?
The Texas Probate Code allows children born after the death of their parent to qualify as heirs. There is no mention of conception times as in Florida. 41(a).
Copyright by Robert Ray a Texas inheritance attorney.
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