In vitro fertilization using a deceased father as the donor doesn’t make the children born later eligible for Social Security benefits, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed Thursday.
The panel of Judges John Walker Jr., Debra Ann Livingston, and Gerard Lynch in MacNeil v. Berryhill, 16-2189-cv, said U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe of the Northern District of New York got it right when he agreed with an administrative law judge that New York State law precluded children born to a deceased parent—after that parent’s death—from qualifying for Social Security Administration benefits.
