In Fetal Personhood and Inheritance by Unborn Children, by Alyssa A. DiRusso and Emily Price, 50 ACTEC 279 (2025), Professors Alyssa A. DiRusso and Emily Price argue that given the recent rise in law regarding IVF and personhood, there is a gap in the law concerning what they call “nevernatal” children, which are children who die before being born. This gap is manifest in inheritance law, which typically provides that prenatal children inherit equally as born children, but the inheritance law fails to address the inheritance rights of children who inherit, by virtue of being prenatal, but then die before being born, and this can cause some unintended consequences. They argue that purpose trusts should help resolve this discrepancy.
