It was very recently ruled by the Connecticut Supreme Court that frozen embryos are marital property! There was much back and forth on this topic over the years, with various courts issuing conflicting decisions on the issue. Now that our highest court has ruled that frozen embryos are in fact marital property, what does that mean for you?
What that means is: the embryos can be ordered to be destroyed. Your frozen embryos will be considered joint marital property. Usually when you freeze embryos, you enter into a contract with your partner at the time that outlines what will happen in the event of divorce, other conflict, or one parties’ death.
That contract has previously been found to be invalid, and instead of being viewed as property and destroyed per the agreement of the parties, the embryos have been awarded to one party of the other. It was quite inconsistent and had only come up in about 15 states in the past.
Connecticut has now set the legal precedent, ruling that the contract in connection with the frozen embryos is indeed valid. This meant one thing for the ex-couple who battled their way to the Supreme Court – neither of them got to take the embryos and they were destroyed in the lab.
It is believed that these cases will be negotiated more and more in the future since there will be more and more fertility options as science and technology continue to advance. These cases could be fought in civil court or family court, and the outcome will now be argued that if there is no agreement amongst the parties, that the original contract prevails.
Do you need a confidential consultation in regard to your family law matter that also happens to involve frozen sperm/eggs/embryos? Please do not hesitate to contact Wolf & Shore Law Group! We can be reached here, at 203.745.3151, or at info@wolfandshorelaw.com. You can schedule a call back from our Client Intake Specialist here!
