Never Try to Stare Down a Grieving Widow: Posthumous Use of Gametes and Embryos in Australia
Monday March 18, 2024

Never Try to Stare Down a Grieving Widow: Posthumous Use of Gametes and Embryos in Australia

Monday, March 18, 2024

Posthumous use falls into one of two categories –

  • Retrieval
  • Use

A dear American colleague2 has suggested that surrogacy lawyers have one of three roles:

  • An architect- who plans the whole journey.
  • A pilot- when the intended parents know where they want to go- and want to get there fast.
  • A cleaner- cleaning up other people’s messes.

These comments are apt about the role of a lawyer in posthumous cases, too. If it appears that death is on the horizon, engaging a lawyer early can make the posthumous use process for the grieving widow3 quicker, simpler and cheaper.

Conversely, trying to retrieve sperm posthumously can lead to difficulties, which a lawyer is sought to clean up in the most trying of circumstances.

I am going to be discussing posthumous use in Australia – a country of 27 million, but with eight systems of law on this point.

Read the Paper here.

2Richard Vaughn.

3I say widow. While posthumous retrieval from women occurs, it is rare. Posthumous retrieval from men is much more common.

Request an Appointment
Fill in the form below to find out if you have a claim.
Request an Appointment - Stephen Page
Things to Read, Watch & Listen
LGBTQ+ Surrogacy and Donation in Australia: Pride, Representation & Fertility Law

Pride is in the Air: When Pride Met Purpose

Sometimes a moment lands in a way that feels more than coincidental. For Stephen Page, Director at Page Provan Family and Fertility Lawyers, that happened on a Sunday in March after speaking at the Growing Families Conference in Melbourne. The conference focused on surrogacy and donation, the two pillars of modern family building for many… Read More »Pride is in the Air: When Pride Met Purpose

Mexico Surrogacy 2026: New Court Rulings, AMPARO Orders & Timeline Changes

Mexico Surrogacy Update: New Court Rulings Change Everything

Mexico has long been on many Australian intended parents’ lists for surrogacy. It offered a path that, for years, was relatively fast compared with some other jurisdictions. But Mexico is not standing still. Recent decisions from the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice have significantly reshaped how surrogacy is handled through the courts, and those legal… Read More »Mexico Surrogacy Update: New Court Rulings Change Everything

Colombia Surrogacy Update: The Bill That Died

Colombia Surrogacy Update: The Bill That Died

Planning surrogacy in Colombia can feel like navigating two legal systems at the same time. There is what Colombia does (or decides not to do). And there is what Australian law requires of intended parents, even when the arrangement happens overseas. A recent development in Colombia matters because it affects whether foreign intended parents may… Read More »Colombia Surrogacy Update: The Bill That Died

Family Law Section Law Council of Australia Award
Member of Queensland law society
Family law Practitioners Association
International Academy of Family Lawyers - IAFL
Mediator Standards Board