Freezing Eggs Can Affect Your Estate Plan

Recently, Apple and Facebook made news for paying the expenses for their female employees to freeze their eggs.  While you probably did not think this is something that could have any effect on your estate plan, if you have a daughter or granddaughter, you may be mistaken. 

If someone in your family decides to use assisted reproductive technology and freeze eggs, you will need to consider whether to include unborn decedents in your estate plan.  Now that Apple and Facebook are offering egg-freezing coverage, other employers are likely to follow. 

In terms of estate planning, children, descendants, and heirs refer to people who are genetically, biologically or legally related to you.  However, egg freezing increases the probability that you will have a descendant who is neither genetically nor biologically related to you.  Thus, you must decide whether to include him or her in your estate. 

Ignoring how assisted reproductive technology could play a role in your estate plan can be detrimental.  Someone you may want to include as an heir could be wrongly excluded.  By specifying whom you do and do not want to include, you maintain control over your estate. 

See Next Avenue, How Freezing Eggs Can Affect Your Estate Plan, Forbes, Dec. 10, 2014.