A highly-publicized case involving actress Sofia Vergara, ex-fiancé Nick Loeb and the frozen embryos they had created, has a bizarre twist that involves a trust suing on behalf of the embryos.
Since their breakup, Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb have been fighting over two frozen embryos they had together when their relationship was much better. Loeb had been seeking to have the embryos brought to term, which Vergara opposed. Recently, Loeb dropped his case.
A party unrelated to either of them, has now filed a new case in Louisiana to have the embryos brought to term. It purports to be brought by the embryos themselves. A trust appears to have been created in Louisiana, specifically for this purpose because that state has an old law that grants legal personhood to embryos.
This story was taken up recently by the Daily Beast in “Sofia Vergara Embryo Case Could Open Floodgates.”
While this lawsuit appears to face long odds of success, nothing can be said for certain since it is a matter of first impression for the courts. If the lawsuit does succeed, it could have important and far reaching implications for estate law.
For example, if a wealthy person passes away after going through the process of freezing embryos, could any third party then sue to have those embryos brought to term? If so, then would those children be considered the heirs of the deceased entitled to a share of the estate, even if the deceased had no wish to have more children when he or she passed away?
Those questions would have to be answered by other courts.
Needless to say, the progress of this case will be watched closely by the media and the legal community.
Reference: Daily Beast (Dec. 8, 2016) “Sofia Vergara Embryo Case Could Open Floodgates.”
