Trusts & Fertility Preservation | Protecting Your Future Family
If you’ve preserved eggs, sperm, or embryos, you need a trust to protect your wishes, avoid disputes, and plan for your future family. Learn more from an estate planning attorney.
Why You Need a Trust if You Have Engaged in Fertility Preservation
Modern medical advances allow people to preserve their fertility through freezing eggs, sperm, or embryos. Whether you’ve chosen this path due to medical treatment, career planning, or personal reasons, it raises unique estate planning questions that most people never consider.
One of the estate planning tools used to protect your fertility wishes — and your future family — is a trust.
1. Clarifying Ownership and Control
When you preserve genetic material, questions can arise about who controls it if something happens to you. Without clear instructions, clinics, courts, or family members may end up making decisions you never intended.
A trust can help establish who has the right to make decisions about your preserved fertility materials, giving you more control and certainty.
2. Planning for Future Children
If you intend for your eggs, sperm, or embryos to be used to have children in the future, a trust ensures those children are recognized as your legal heirs.
This can:
- Guarantee inheritance rights
- Prevent disputes among relatives
- Protect your future children financially
Without planning, your children born from fertility preservation could face legal complications regarding inheritance.
3. Avoiding Family Disputes
Fertility preservation can lead to sensitive family disagreements, especially if you pass away or become incapacitated. A trust creates legally enforceable instructions, removing uncertainty and reducing the risk of costly legal battles.
4. Providing for Medical and Custodial Costs
You can use a trust to set aside funds for:
- The continued storage of your preserved eggs, sperm, or embryos
- The cost of fertility treatments
- The financial support of any future children
This ensures your wishes are carried out without creating a financial burden for loved ones.
5. Maintaining Privacy
Wills go through probate, which is a public process. If you include sensitive details about fertility preservation in a will, they could become part of the public record. A trust keeps these matters private and out of court.
Conclusion
Fertility preservation gives you the opportunity to shape your future — but without proper estate planning, your wishes may not be honored. A trust ensures that your genetic material is managed according to your instructions, your potential children are legally protected, and your loved ones avoid unnecessary conflict.
Do you want to discuss the details of creating a Fertility Preservation Trust, or a Restatement of Trust to add Fertility Preservation instructions to your revocable trust, contact us by calling 203-885-0500.