Law Commons^™

Posthumously Conceived Children: An International And Human Rights Perspective , Maya Sabatello

Journal of Law and Health

This essay considers posthumous conception from an international and child-centered approach. After a sketch in Part I of the phenomenon of posthumous conception and the complexities it evokes, Part II examines the types of issues arising in court cases concerning posthumous conception. Part III considers how courts in their rulings have addressed the welfare and best interests of posthumously conceived children and analyzes the scope and meaning of relevant decisions. Part IV looks into children’s rights or interests raised in those judicial decisions: parental acknowledgement, family structures, identity harm, and inheritance and social benefits. This part draws on the Convention …

Graveside Birthday Parties: The Legal Consequences Of Forming Families Posthumously, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This essay highlights some of the legal consequences resulting from the widespread availability and use of reproductive technology. The Essay is divided into three parts. Part I examines the steps that must be taken to identify the legal parents of the posthumously conceived children. Part II discussed the reproductive rights of the deceased gamete providers. Since most posthumous reproduction is done using the sperm of dead men, the discussion centers on male reproductive rights. Finally, Part III focuses on the inheritance rights of posthumously conceived children.

Dead Men Reproducing: Responding To The Existence Of Afterdeath Children, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The statutory mandates are a step in the right direction, but there is still work that needs to be done. The statutes should be amended to close certain loop holes and to ensure that the physician-facilitated suicide option is available to all of the patients who need it. Persons suffering from physical conditions that will lead to death within six months should not be the only persons permitted to exit gracefully. As long as the safeguards included in the statutes are followed, there is no good reason to prohibit persons suffering from irreversible and incurable physical diseases that lead to …

Children Of Men: Balancing The Inheritance Rights Of Marital And Non-Marital Children, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Average U.S. citizens are routinely having children out of wedlock. In America, at least one out of every three babies born is a non-marital child. As more and more children continue to be born out of wedlock, society must enact laws to protect the interests of those children. They are the children of men and they are entitled to financial support both during the lives and after the deaths of their parents.

Part II of this article briefly discusses the historical treatment of non-marital children. Part Ill explores the modem legal treatment of non-marital children, which consists of three distinct …

Ghosts From The Grave-Inheriting Through The Predeceased Under Ohio Law , Kevin Purcell

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article seeks to advise the estate-planning attorney that Ohio's laws concerning inheriting through predeceased persons is a labyrinth of arbitrary rules, the majority of which serve no apparent public policy. Specifically, very different sets of rules apply to inheriting through a predeceased person via intestacy, a will, a living trust, or a "beneficiary designation" type account, such as a "payable on death" account (hereinafter P.O.D.). Additionally, Ohio law contains surprisingly high doses of ambiguity in some of the most basic principles of law relating to inheriting through predeceased next of kin or predeceased named-beneficiaries in a dispositive-planning instrument. Rather …

The Death Of The "Death Tax"?: An Introduction, Deborah A. Geier

Cleveland State Law Review

I would like to consider the question: What brings us together today to consider the possible repeal of the estate tax? We would not likely be here today if the repeal of the estate tax were not a serious political possibility, and it would not likely be a serious political possibility if many middle-class taxpayers earning the median household income of about $40,000 to $50,000 per year did not support outright repeal, rather than much needed reform. The article then explains why taxpayers support outright repeal today when they would not have done so even ten years ago. The article …