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Family Law's Coldest War: The Battle For Frozen Embryos And The Need For A Statutory White Flag, Mary Joy Dingler
Family Law's Coldest War: The Battle For Frozen Embryos And The Need For A Statutory White Flag, Mary Joy Dingler
Seattle University Law Review
Without concrete legislative guidance, courts are left to a variety of unsatisfactory methods of determining the disposition of frozen embryos in dissolutions and custody disputes. Beginning in 1992, courts have been issuing problematic rulings that are reached through the application of three approaches: (1) the balancing-interests test; (2) the contemporaneous mutual consent approach; and (3) the contractual approach. These approaches are examined in this Comment through the lens of selected cases and the largely inequitable outcomes for parties are critiqued. Courts even lament the lack of statutory guidance in deciding these disputes but are resigned to employing these largely flawed, …
Frozen Pre-Embryo Practice In Missouri, Mary M. Beck, L. "Joanna" Beck Wilkinson
Frozen Pre-Embryo Practice In Missouri, Mary M. Beck, L. "Joanna" Beck Wilkinson
Faculty Publications
McQueen v. Gadberry was an Eastern District dissolution dispute over frozen pre-implantation embryos formed from McQueen’s eggs and Gadberry’s sperm. The St. Louis County trial court found the pre-embryos to be marital property of a special character and awarded them jointly to each of the former spouses. The appellate court affirmed. McQueen is an important decision because the finding that embryos are marital property was an issue of first impression that affects many Missouri families. Infertility is a common problem, couples frequently utilize assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to form families, and the extra frozen pre-implantation embryos (hereinafter pre-embryos) have fueled …