Your Estate Plan and Bio Materials: How to Protect Them

When it comes to your estate plan and bio materials, protecting them can be tricky.

Understanding your estate plan and bio materials requires specialized understanding. Each year, more and more people are conceiving or attempting to conceive through invitro-fertilization (IVF). According to reports, 8+ million babies have been born from IVF since its introduction over 40 years ago. This growth has birthed many unusual decisions too. These decisions can be tough to make, including questions on legally handling and treating embryos and other unused bio-materials. However, few attorneys counsel clients about this question. Yet, it’s a question that is becoming more frequently raised with clients. When crafting your estate plan, you should consider what will happen to unused bio material. Such a question is one we’ve helped clients with for many years.

Three Current Legal Classifications Of Embryos

Do you have frozen embryos or plan to undergo IVF treatments in the future? If so, it’s crucial to learn the laws in your state and to plan your estate accordingly. Currently, there are three schools of thought on the legal classification of embryos:

1) An embryo is human life

2) An embryo is pure personal property, no different than a pet or other household item, or

3) An embryo is property deserving of special respect.

Contractual issues regarding storage and ownership of frozen embryos are very important. This is especially true in states where embryos are treated as human life. I’m not going to address those concerns here, but they are addressed when venturing into the IVF process.

Estate Planning Issues Around IVF

In addition to the many contractual issues that must be decided when going into IVF, once you have entered into the process, estate planning issues require special attention. It is important that your estate plan reflects your desired wishes for how you want your frozen embryos handled upon your death or incapacity. This means your wishes need to be explicitly expressed in a Durable Power of Attorney addressing storage issues, and payment of storage fees made on your behalf should you become ill or incapacitated and whether you want to allow for potential donation of your embryos, etc. Lastly, your wishes as to how you want your frozen embryos handled upon your death needs to be addressed in your Last Will and Testament or your Revocable Trust.

For New Or Modified Estate Plans Addressing IVF

If you currently have frozen embryos in storage or are considering IVF and have an estate plan that needs to be modified to reflect your wishes regarding this issue, give my office a call at 404-370-0696. I know that the decisions those with frozen embryos face are extremely personal, and people’s beliefs vary greatly on this subject. We can help make sure your estate plan conforms to the laws of the state as well as your beliefs and reflects your personal wishes.

Looking to find an experienced estate lawyer in the Georgia area who is skilled in asset protection and estate plan preparation? Shannon Pawley is an attorney in Georgia with expertise in estate planning and asset protection. Shannon can provide assistance with creating an estate plan to include making a will and how to establish a trust properly. If you have questions about asset protection or questions about making an estate plan, reach out to Shannon and she will be glad to help answer all the estate planning questions you might have!

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Stacy McKenzie

21:58 07 Feb 24

Shannon and her team were great. Went in for a consultation and got my money worth. She explained and made sure we understood. I will be using them in the future.

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Waheed Hamid

18:55 17 Dec 23

We had excellent service from Shannon and her team, they are true professionals and helped us and explained every step in the process. We highly recommend The Estate and Asset Protection Law Firm.

Virgil Price Young

20:16 18 Jul 23

Stephanie Deal

15:22 07 Jul 23

My father and I recently used the estate, an asset protection, law, firm for new wheels, new, power of attorney’s, and a creation of a trust. Brooke and her entire team could not have been more helpful and more professional! We loved working with them, and they took everything seriously therefore I didn’t have to worry about a thing. I highly recommend everyone at the law firm.

Barry Amos

01:22 01 Jul 23

Great firm. Had answers to all our questions and explained everything clearly. Never felt rushed to make a decision Could not ask for a better experience. Every one we dealt with was professional and knowledgeable. We highly recommend this firm for estate planning.

Lee Jay

21:30 28 Jun 23

Shannon provided invaluable information regarding a family estate matter. Although her firm did not quite fit our immediate needs, the consultation was informative and extremely HELPFUL! Shannon clearly explained what our next steps should be and offered to assist if we had any questions along the way. Her expertise and willingness to help puts her in a league of her own!

Alice Guppy

02:01 23 Jan 23

Shannon and everyone at The Estate and Asset Protection Law Firm are professional, very knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. They answered all our questions in great detail and the plan they developed for us is exactly what we need to protect our assets and estate as we age especially with my husband's health issues.

Lynn McKibbin-Moore

23:09 24 Feb 22

My husband has dementia. This firm has been patient, kind and professional while we went through a move from a house of 37 years in to a condo to be closer to my daughter and her husband. (Miami to Atlanta). There was also a wedding. All in 6 months.We now have a trust, power of attorney. Wills for my daughter and her husband and more. All at a fair price. I could not recommend higher.

Tammy Lee

22:03 29 Jan 22

Shannon Pawley and her team are exceptional at helping families navigate tough situations. We began working with her upon finding out my father had Stage 4 kidney cancer. His decline was more rapid than expected.Attorney Pawley and her entire team expedited paperwork that allowed me to focus on my father’s care, make decisions that suddenly needed to be made for him medically and financially, and has allowed me the ability to focus more on grieving and less on legal matters upon his passing.It is obvious she is knowledgeable about the best ways to navigate estates to protect the assets for the owners and their loved ones. It is just as obvious that she is passionate and has true heart for what her clients go through.We will be using her for own estate needs, and I recommend her expertise to everybody I can.This service is worth every penny we paid as it has saved us more money and time than I could imagine.

H Jessie Brewer

18:26 18 Nov 21

Attorney Shannon Pawley and paralegal Alexis McCoy are legal professionals that my wife and I highly recommend. Their grasp of the Georgia law pertaining to Medicaid assistance and the interworking's of the State department is exceptional. Additionally, their client-attorney relationship skills are excellent. We wouldn't hesitate to use this law firm again should the need arise.

Dawn Hardy

15:06 13 Nov 21

Shannon and her team are the best! They listened to my needs and provided the best advice. They are patient and professional as well as personable, they didn't make me feel like I was just another client. Highly recommend!