09 Oct 2012 ABA Panel Focus on Estate Planning for ART Families

I’ll be attending the annual Continuing Legal Education Conference of the American Bar Association in Philadelphia later this week, where I’ll be participating with distinguished colleagues in a panel discussion on Saturday on “What Every ART Lawyer Should Know About Estate Planning.”

This topic highlights one of the most compelling—and too often overlooked—arguments for obtaining competent, experienced legal counsel when you plan to become a parent via Assisted Reproduction Technology, or ART: not only are your immediate security and parental establishment of your future child(ren) at issue, but existing family members and heirs also may be impacted.

The panel discussion will cover issues such as how to provide for proper guardians of the resulting child(ren) in surrogacy arrangements, inheritance rights (and lack thereof to/from the donor and surrogate), advanced healthcare directives, and rights to cryopreserved genetic material.

The panel also will discuss the unique challenges often presented for those who come to the U.S. from other countries to do their surrogacy. My fellow panel members will be Carole Bass, Esq., and Steven Weissman, Esq., both of New York, NY; and Irit Rosenblum of Tel Aviv.

I was honored to be appointed recently to the Executive Council of the American Bar Association (ABA) Family Law Section Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology. The annual conference is an important way to share information and stay sharp in a field in which new, life-changing technologies are emerging constantly. It’s an exciting, fast-paced area of practice, and the end results—the creation of new families—make it emotionally fulfilling. Fall in Philadelphia should not be too bad, either.