High court to weigh in on survivor's benefits

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court will weigh in on the legal question of whether children conceived through artificial insemination after the death of a parent can get Social Security survivor benefits.

The state’s high court is set to hear arguments Oct. 10 in the Social Security case of an Omaha child who was conceived through artificial insemination a week after the 2006 death of her biological father.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that twins conceived after their Florida father’s death cannot get survivor benefits, because Florida’s inheritance laws bar children conceived posthumously from inheritance.

The federal court has now asked the state Supreme Court to determine whether Nebraska’s laws allow inheritance by a child posthumously conceived and born within nine months of the father’s death.