Howard County Estate Planning Council February Meeting

Re-Defining Family in the Wild West of DNA Test Kits and Assisted Reproductive Technology

This presentation will discuss how DNA test kits are bringing to light one-night stands, extra-marital affairs, egg and sperm donations, and fertility lab mix-ups, and how unexpected twists in the family tree are impacting estate planning.  It will review the inheritance rights of newly-discovered genetic heirs and children born of assisted reproductive technology and changing fiduciary duties for executors and trustees, emphasize needed changes to new client questionnaires and the heightened risk of class gifts, and as well as how tried and true rules of document construction and trust modification can affect a plan gone awry by an unexpected twist in the family tree.