The Superior Court of Pennsylvania heard a matter of first impression regarding the distribution of frozen embryos in a divorce in the matter of Reber v. Reiss, 2012 Pa. Super. 86 (2012). As in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures and the like are becoming increasingly common, and the rate of divorce shows no signs of ebbing, the issues presented in Reber will continue to be quite relevant in the foreseeable future.
The parties in Reber were married in 2002. Unfortunately, the wife, Andrea Reiss, was diagnosed with fairly advanced cancer at the age of 36 in 2004. Due to her age and the detrimental effect intense cancer treatments (e.g., radiation and chemotherapy) can have on a woman's ability to procreate, the parties agreed to engage in IVF in order to ensure the greatest odds of allowing Reiss to have biological children after her ordeal with cancer was finished. The IVF procedure produced 13 embryos using the reproductive material from both parties and they were cryopreserved. In 2006, the husband, Bret Reber, filed for divorce, and during the course of the divorce litigation the parties agreed that frozen embryos are marital property subject to equitable distribution.
