An Act To Ensure the Payment of Survivor Benefits to Certain Children
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 0419
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: ROSEN
Amends: 18-A MRSA §2

Legislative Document 
No. 419 
S.P. 123 
In Senate, February 10, 2011 
An Act To Ensure the Payment of Survivor Benefits to Certain 
Children 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
JOSEPH G. CARLETON, JR. 
Secretary of the Senate 
Presented by Senator ROSEN of Hancock. 
Cosponsored by Representative: CORNELL du HOUX of Brunswick. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  18-A MRSA §2-108, as enacted by PL 1979, c. 540, §1, is repealed and 
the following enacted in its place: 
§2-108.  Afterborn heirs 
(1).  Relatives of the decedent conceived before the decedent’s death but born 
thereafter inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of the decedent. 
(2).  Children of the decedent conceived after the decedent’s death inherit as if the 
children had been born in the lifetime of the decedent only if the decedent consented in a 
record to be a parent of children conceived after the decedent’s death. 
Sec. 2.  18-A MRSA §2-109, sub-§(2), as amended by PL 1987, c. 736, §37, is 
further amended to read: 
(2).  In cases not covered by paragraph subsection (1), a person born out of wedlock 
is a child of the mother; that person is also a child of the father if: 
(i).    The natural parents participated in a marriage ceremony before or after the birth 
of the child, even though the attempted marriage is void; or 
(ii).    The father adopts the child into his family; or 
(iii).    The father acknowledges in writing before a notary public that he is the father 
of the child, or the paternity is established by an adjudication before the death of the 
father or is established thereafter by clear and convincing proof, but the paternity 
established under this subparagraph paragraph is ineffective to qualify the father or 
his kindred to inherit from or through the child unless the father has openly treated 
the child as his and has not refused to support the child.; 
Sec. 3.  18-A MRSA §2-109, sub-§(3), as enacted by PL 1995, c. 694, Pt. C, §6 
and affected by Pt. E, §2, is amended to read: 
(3).  A divorce or judicial separation does not bar the issue of the marriage from 
inheriting.; and 
Sec. 4.  18-A MRSA §2-109, sub-§(4) is enacted to read: 
(4).  A child conceived after the death of a person is a child of that person if the child 
is born to the person’s surviving spouse using the gametes of the person and the person 
consented in a record that if the gametes were used after the person’s death the person 
would be a parent of the child. 
SUMMARY 
This bill addresses the ability to inherit for purposes of intestate succession when a 
child is conceived using the gametes of a person after the person has died.  This bill 
provides that the child has the same right to inherit from the decedent as if the child had 
been born prior to the decedent’s death.  This bill also clarifies that a parent-child 
relationship is established for the purposes of intestate succession between a child and a 
person if the child is conceived after the death of the person and the child is born to the 
person’s surviving spouse using the gametes of the person.  In each situation, the person 
must have consented in a record to be a parent in the given circumstances. 
The availability of Social Security survivor benefits is based on state intestate 
succession laws.  This bill will facilitate the eligibility for survivor benefits to be paid to 
posthumously conceived children.