Judge: Iowa girl born after father's death eligible for Social Security benefits

UPDATE: Six-year-old Brynn Beeler is entitled to her father's Social Security benefits even though he died two years before she was born, a federal judge has ruled.

The West Branch child was born through in vitro fertilization using sperm from Patti Beeler's late husband, Bruce, who died of leukemia at age 37.

Beeler filed for Social Security survivor benefits for her daughter within a few weeks of Brynn's birth in April 2003. The federal government's initial denial of the request led to a legal challenge over the traditional Social Security eligibility interpretations.

"It was, in my view, the right decision," said Patti Beeler. "We're the first in Iowa, but we won't be the last. You either deal with it now, or a year or 10 years later when there are more cases."

In 2006, the last year for which statistics are available, 54,656 babies were born using assisted reproductive technology, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a 162 percent increase from the 20,840 births in 1996.

The Iowa case has pushed lawmakers to reconsider a 150-year-old Iowa inheritance law written long before technology was available to allow the preservation of genetic material beyond a person's life.

Advocates wishing to revise Iowa's law say it would establish clear boundaries of inheritance rights and avoid further legal squabbles.

The case also stands to set legal precedent in the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which covers Iowa, Arkansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, if it is not reversed upon appeal.

The Social Security Administration has until Jan. 11 to appeal. John Garlinger, a spokesman for the agency, said officials are discussing their options.

The benefit means that more than $150,000 could be tucked away for the college education of Brynn Beeler.

Bruce Beeler preserved a genetic sample before he began chemotherapy, which can cause sterility. The goal was for him to get well and for the couple to raise children. Within a month of the treatments, however, doctors determined he needed a bone marrow transplant. They gave him a 50 percent chance of survival.

Before the cancer spread further, Beeler made funeral arrangements and signed a number of forms that granted his wife the legal right to use his genetic samples to conceive children in the event of his death. His mother was a witness to the signatures.

He died on May 4, 2001.

The initial benefits claim was denied by the Social Security Administration based upon Iowa's law that allows heirs who are "begotten before the intestate's death but born thereafter" inheritance rights. The law, however, does not deal with children conceived after a biological parent's death.

A handful of similar cases have made their way to some of the highest courts in the United States but with various results. The Beeler case could, depending upon the final outcome, still to make its way before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, this year proposed a bill that would grant inheritance rights to children born up to three years after the death of a parent.

But the bill, House File 662, didn't move forward, partially out of concerns about how it may affect the timeliness of estate settlements after a person's death. Would the estate of a dead person with an existing genetic sample, for example, be unable to close because of the possibility of an unborn heir?

Kaufmann has since worked with members of the Iowa Bar Association to rewrite the proposal and eliminate some of the legal questions. He said he will introduce a new bill in the upcoming legislative session that would close loopholes that could complicate estate matters.

It's critical to resolve the issue as Iowa military members leave for war and take advantage of technology, he said.

Some Democrats, including Rep. Kurt Swaim of Bloomfield, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have said the issue is "definitely going to have to be studied."

"To me, this is so obviously the right thing to do," Kaufmann said. "I can tell you one thing, this will be one of the more interesting bills and interesting issues of the session. You will be hard pressed to find anything more unique than this."

-- Associated Press