Child Born Two Years After Father’s Death

Brian Smith was a lawyer who decided to make a career change at age 29 and enter the military.  He joined the Army in 2002 and served in Iraq as a tank commander until his he was killed by a sniper.

His wife, Kathleen, decided to be inseminated with sperm that Brian had donated prior to his deployment.  Being an attorney, Brian had signed the proper documents stating that Kathleen could decide to use the sperm even after his death.

Kathleen elected to do so and their son, Benton, was born about eight months ago.

See Keith Oppenheim, Soldier fathers child two years after dying in Iraq, CNN.com, March 21, 2007.

Special thanks to Precious Atlas and Sara Hudman (both May 2008 J.D. Candidates, Texas Tech University School of Law) for bringing this development to my attention.