Benefits denied to girl conceived with dead father's sperm

A U.S. appeals court says the Los Angeles 10-year-old is not entitled to Social Security survivor payments because of California inheritance law and lack of evidence the father gave consent. A 10-year-old Los Angeles girl conceived with her dead father's frozen sperm is not entitled to his Social Security benefits, a federal appeals court panel has ruled.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower-court ruling that the child, Brandalynn Vernoff, was ineligible for the federal survivor payments under California law, which considers factors in addition to biology in determining inheritance rights. Brandalynn's father, Bruce Vernoff, died accidentally in July 1995.

Thirty hours after his death, his wife, Gabriela Vernoff, had a doctor extract his sperm and freeze it. She was impregnated with it in 1998 and gave birth to Brandalynn in 1999, said Wally Vernoff, Bruce Vernoff's father and an attorney representing the widow. She sought survivor benefits for her daughter from the Social Security Administration, but was rejected. Her claim was also turned away in U.S. District Court.