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
Surrogacy Counselling: Queensland vs NSW Differences

Surrogacy Counseling: The Key Differences Between QLD and NSW

Surrogacy counselling is one of the most important parts of any surrogacy arrangement, and it is also one of the most commonly misunderstood. That confusion does not just affect intended parents and surrogates. It can also affect lawyers, counsellors, and other professionals involved in the process. The reason is fairly simple. Both Queensland and New… Read More »Surrogacy Counseling: The Key Differences Between QLD and NSW

Surrogacy in Vietnam: Legal Risks for Australians

Surrogacy in Vietnam: The Risks of the Black Market and Restrictive Laws

Surrogacy in Vietnam is legal, but only in a very narrow and tightly controlled way. That is the starting point, and it is the point many intended parents miss. Vietnam stands apart from a number of countries in Asia because it does have a legal framework for surrogacy. On paper, that sounds encouraging. In practice,… Read More »Surrogacy in Vietnam: The Risks of the Black Market and Restrictive Laws

Surrogacy in Cyprus: Legal Risks for Australians

Surrogacy in Cyprus: Understanding the North vs South Divide

Surrogacy in Cyprus sounds, at first glance, like it might offer a Mediterranean alternative for intended parents looking overseas. In reality, Cyprus is not one surrogacy destination but two very different legal and political environments sitting on the same island. That divide matters enormously. For Australians in particular, surrogacy in Cyprus raises serious practical, legal… Read More »Surrogacy in Cyprus: Understanding the North vs South Divide

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