Efeitos sucessórios da reprodução humana assistida homóloga post mortem

Abstract

This Master in Civil Law dissertation aims at demonstrating that biotechnological innovations, most especially in the field of reproductive medicine, have fundamental implications for family law and inheritance law, thus creating the need for (re)adapting the legal system to the new (and dynamic) social reality, in light of the Brazilian constitutional principles and norms. In this regard, for instance, rethinking and restructuring the traditional family model seems to be a necessary step within this legal (re)adaptation, since new technologies, such as techniques of assisted human reproduction, create the possibility of interfering in natural processes of procreation in ways not foreseen by society and the law. In this regard, it is now possible to imagine the birth of a child years after the death of the parent. This research seeks to understand and examine the implications of such biotechnological innovations for the Brazilian legal system. Most specifically, it aims at understanding and examining the implications of post mortem assisted reproduction for the law of succession, demonstrating and commenting on various practical difficulties, such as the need for respecting the equality of children, on the one hand, and the necessity of defining the succession problem, on the other. This work also seeks to demonstrate how to ensure the inheritance rights of the posthumous son, both in the legitimate succession and in the testament succession. Furthermore, it aims at suggesting and provoking secondary reflections on the need for previous and explicit authorization from the deceased parent for implanting his genetic material into the womb of the widow, and the need for clarifying and determining the period in which this use of genetic material may be authorized, avoiding legal uncertainty.