Woodward v. Commissioner of Social Security
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
760 N.E.2d 257 (2002)
- Written by Christine Raino, JD
Facts
After learning that the treatment for Warren Woodward’s leukemia may result in sterility, he and his wife Lauren Woodward (plaintiff), having no children at the time, decided to bank Warren’s sperm. Warren died in 1993 and Lauren gave birth to twins in 1995 who were conceived through artificial insemination with Warren’s preserved sperm. Lauren applied to the Social Security Administration (SSA) (defendant) for mother’s and child’s benefits. SSA denied Lauren’s claims because she had not established that her children qualified for benefits by showing that they were entitled to inherit from Warren under Massachusetts’ intestacy laws. Woodward appealed to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The district court certified the question of whether Lauren’s children have inheritance rights under Massachusetts intestacy laws to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Marshall, C. J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
