Divorce cases involving frozen embryos can sometimes result in litigation when one spouse wishes to keep the embryos with the intention of having children and the other spouse wishes to have hem destroyed. Even with a preexisting agreement, problems can arise. A Colorado couple found themselves in a similar situation. Although they had an agreement,…Read More
Tug of War Over Frozen Embryos in a Divorce
With the number of frozen embryos reaching 1 million in the U.S., many predict that legal disputes over frozen embryos will increase when couples divorce. In cases such as these, one spouse may want to keep the embryos to conceive children at some point in the future, while the other spouse does not. Many state…Read More
Frozen Embryo Custody Dispute
The field of assisted reproductive technology or ART is advancing rapidly and the use of in vitro fertilization is among the procedures becoming more and more common. Each scientific innovation brings new legal, ethical and policy questions, one of which is, “What do we do with the hundreds of thousands of frozen embryos that haven’t…Read More
Couple’s Frozen Embryos Must be Destroyed
As a follow-up to an earlier blog regarding the disposition of embryos in a divorce…the verdict is in. A San Francisco judge ruled Wednesday that the embryos a woman wanted to use over her ex-husbands objections must be discarded. The couple had signed a consent form prior to an embryo harvesting procedure, agreeing to destroy…Read More
Frozen Embryo Custody Laws in the Making
The problem of custody of frozen embryos in a dissolution case is in the news once again. In a previous blog we touched on the topic as it relates to an Illinois doctor determined to gain custody of her and her ex-boyfriends jointly conceived embryos and of the high profile case playing out between celebrity…Read More
Illinois Frozen Embryo Custody Law
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the number of babies born through assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization, has skyrocketed from 260 in 1985 to more than 61,000 in 2010. Couples may undergo the procedure to tackle current infertility issues, while others are harvesting healthy eggs to bring to term at…Read More
Illinois Frozen Embryos in Dissolution
When a couple creates frozen embryos, who has the right to them when the relationship dissolves? Is there a burden of child support or a question of visitation if one of the party moves forward against the other’s wishes? In an embryonic custody dispute between Nick Loeb and Sofia Vergara, the fate of two female…Read More
