A Swedish man was declared the father of a child born 14 months after his death, following a legal battle that reached Sweden's highest court. The couple had sought fertility treatment in Russia, but the man died of COVID-19 before the embryo could be implanted. The court ultimately ruled in favor of the man's paternity based on DNA evidence and documentation from the clinic.
Swedish Man Becomes Father 14 Months After His Death
Swedish Man Becomes Father 14 Months After His Death
A Swedish man has been declared the father of a child born 14 months after his death. The legal case took several years and went through the entire Swedish judicial system.
In August 2021, a married couple traveled to Russia to visit a fertility clinic for assistance in having a child.
The plan was for a donated egg to be fertilized with the man's sperm and then implanted into the woman's body.
During the initial visit, the man provided sperm at the clinic, which fertilized a donated egg. The couple signed an agreement for the fertilization to be completed at a later date.
Died of COVID
Two months later, they were supposed to return to the clinic for the embryo to be implanted in the mother's body, but the man died of COVID-19 before this could happen.
Instead, it wasn't until March 2022 that his widow returned to Russia to complete the fertilization. By the end of the year—14 months after her husband's death—she gave birth to the child.
Paternity became a legal issue after the husband's relatives questioned whether he was truly the father of the child.
Court of Appeal Changes Ruling
In Sweden, there is a presumption of paternity, meaning the man a woman is married to is automatically assumed to be the child's father.
If the person is deceased, this applies if the child's birth occurs within nine months, but since the father in this case was deceased at the time of fertilization, paternity needed to be established in court.
The district court ruled that the child was conceived through assisted reproduction, but that the father must be alive for paternity to be established.
The ruling was appealed to the Court of Appeal, which overturned the district court's decision and confirmed the man as the father of the child. This was based on additional evidence, including a DNA investigation and certification from the Russian clinic.
After the man's relatives appealed the decision, the Supreme Court has now upheld the Court of Appeal's ruling.