Article on Rights of Posthumously Conceived Children in Texas
As science continues to accelerate innovation, courts and legislatures struggle to find new ways to apply established legal principles within the context of the resulting breakthroughs in technology. 1 Nowhere is this innovation more apparent than in the field of modern reproductive methods. 2 Artificial reproductive techniques allow many people to have children who otherwise would not be able. 3 Specifically, children may be conceived even after the death of one of the parents; 4 these children are referred to as posthumously conceived. 5 The ability of parents to posthumously conceive children has created new legal challenges, many of which have not yet been addressed. 6 Inheritance law is an issue within the province of state regulation, 7 and the states have reacted differently to the possibility of posthumous conception. 8 As of 2006, only fourteen states had enacted laws regarding these children, some of which only recognize the deceased as the parent if the child is born within ten months of the parent’s death. 9 Since 2006, only two more states have enacted legislation recognizing posthumously conceived children. 10
Some of the major issues related to posthumously conceived children involve the determination of parentage and inheritance rights. 11 The Texas Legislature has addressed both of these areas, though not as fully as it should. 12 While Texas law specifically grants a posthumously conceived child the right to be considered the child of his or her deceased parent, and provides for both testate and intestate inheritance …