Woodward v. Commissioner of Social Security


FACTS: Three years after they were married, the Woodwards, childless, were told that the husband had leukemia and that treatments might leave him sterile. The couple arranged to have the husband's sperm preserved. After an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant, the husband died in 1993. In 1995, the wife gave birth to twin girls conceived through artificial insemination with the husband's sperm. In 1996, the wife applied for "child's" and "mother's" Social Security survivor benefits. The Social Security Administration ("SSA") rejected the claims on the ground that the wife had not established that the twins were the husband's "children" within the meaning of the Social Security Act, and they were not entitled to inherit from the husband under Massachusetts intestacy and paternity laws. After the wife appealed to the federal district court, seeking a declaratory judgment to reverse the SSA's ruling, that court certified the question to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. The question is dispositive of the case and there is no precedent.

ISSUE: May posthumously conceived genetic children enjoy inheritance rights under the Massachusetts intestacy statute?

HOLDING:Yes, although limited....

RULE: The first determination that must be made is whether the twins are the issue of the husband and whether they would take under the state's intestacy laws. There are three major state interests: 1.) the best interests of the children; 2.) the orderly administration of estates; and (iii) the reproductive rights of the genetic parent.

AnalysisThe legislature has expressed that all children be afforded the same rights and protections of the law, regardless of the "accidents" of their birth. The legislature has affirmatively supported the assistive reproductive technologies that make posthumous children possible. Thus, we may assume that the legislature intended that these children be "entitled" to the same rights and protections of the law as children conceived before death. To provide certainty to heirs and creditors through the prompt, orderly, and accurate administration of intestate estates, the inheritance rights of posthumously conceived children must be determined in a timely manner, since they will reduce the share available to children conceived before the decedent's death. First, a judgment of paternity must be obtained. Second, a period of limitations must be established. Because it is undisputed in this case that the husband is the genetic father, and since the parties here stipulated that timeliness was not an issue, we will not address these concerns.