Heir Rights Upheld in Posthumous Conception

Children conceived artificially after the father’s death have the same inheritance rights as other youngsters, the state’s highest court ruled unanimously.

“Posthumously conceived children may not come into the world the way the majority of children do. But they are children nonetheless,” Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote.

For inheritance rights, the mother must prove a genetic relationship between the father and child and establish that the father consented to posthumous conception and agreed to support his child, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled.

Lauren Woodward of Beverly had twin girls using her husband’s frozen sperm two years after he died of leukemia. Her application for Social Security survivor benefits had been rejected.