Student Name: Valeria Castaneda
Legal Research I - Statutes Research Project
Fall 2023
Answer the questions below and upload to canvas by the due date.
This problem is to be completed individually, keeping in mind that the Honor Code applies to this assignment.
You are a summer associate at a big New York City firm. Jill, a partner in the estates and trusts department, has
asked for your research help with the following problem:
The client is Howard Schmidt, the guardian ad litem of 3-year-old Heidi Evans (i.e. Howard is acting on behalf of
Heidi). Heidi’s mother is Margaret Evans. Margaret is the widow of Nathan Evans. Nathan died in 2017. About
two years before, he had his sperm cryopreserved because he was about to undergo treatment for an
aggressive cancer. Unfortunately, Nathan did not survive the cancer. In 2019, a year and a half after Nathan
died, Margaret had an artificial insemination procedure using Nathan’s sperm. Heidi was born in 2020; Margaret
and Howard both say that Heidi is Nathan’s daughter. Margaret’s interest in Nathan’s estate is being handled by
another law firm.
Nathan had prepared a will in anticipation of his death, in which he left real property located in Sacramento,
California (the “Sacramento property”), to his two business partners. One of the business partners however, was
precluded from taking their share of the Sacramento property due to a finding that they had exerted undue
influence to procure the execution of the will. The will makes no other disposition of the precluded share of the
Sacramento property.
Howard wants to make sure that Heidi inherits whatever she is entitled to as Nathan’s daughter from Nathan’s
estate, including the precluded share of the Sacramento property. Jill explains that usually when property is not
disposed of through a will, it is subject to a state’s laws of intestate succession. Jill needs you to find the relevant
California statutes.
Use Westlaw to complete this assignment
1. Based on her familiarity with probate law, Jill knows that state laws vary considerably in what
inheritance rights they give to children who are conceived through assisted reproduction after the death
of the parent. She remembers she saw some law review articles on this topic in the last few years, so
she suggests you find an article to identify the California statute that concerns the status of the
relationship between Heidi and Nathan.
a. Write out your fact analysis and your research question for this portion of the research.
i. Factual Analysis
1. Relevant Persons:
a. Howard Schmidt, Margret Evans (Heidi’s Mother), Heidi Evans, Nathan
Evans, Business Partner, Sacramento Property
2. Actions:
a. Margaret had an artificial insemination procedure using Nathan’s
sperm. Heidi was born in 2020
b. Nathan had prepared a will in anticipation of his death, in which he left
real property located in Sacramento, California (the “Sacramento
property”), to his two business partners. One of the business partners
however, was precluded from taking their share of the Sacramento
property due to a finding that they had exerted undue influence to
procure the execution of the will.
3. Jurisdiction & Location
a. Jurisdiction would be state and location Sacramento CA
4. Terms of Art
a. Posthumous, artificial insemination, child of decedent
ii. Research Question:
1. What statue shows the relationship that Heidi had with Nathan as a
Posthumous child?
b. Find a relatively recent (i.e. 2017 to 2023) law review article to help you identify the appropriate
statute and give the Bluebooked citation for the law review article. (Remember, law review
articles written for a non-California audience might still survey the relevant law in California.
Also, Westlaw keeps its “Law Reviews & Journals” link under “Secondary Sources”.) If you have
trouble finding a relevant law review article, think about what search terms you’re using and
different ways you might describe the concept we’re looking for.
i. Law review article bluebook citation
1. Julia B. Meister, Posthumous Paternity Determinations and the Role of
timing in Ohio Proceedings, 33 No. 6 Ohio Prob. L.J. NL 6
c. What is the citation of the California statute that addresses this assisted-reproduction fact
scenario concerning the status of the relationship between Heidi and Nathan? (Remember to
look at the table of contents and the surrounding code sections for context purposes and to
confirm your choice; don’t look at only one section.)
i. Bluebook the statute citation (i.e. the section you’re using) here: Cal. Prob. Code
§249.5(2006).
ii. What is the name of the section you just listed above?: Posthumous conception; child of
decedent deemed born in decedent’s lifetime; conditions
iii. Take a look at the table of contents to see how this section is situated within larger
topics. What is the title of the chapter in which this section is nested?: chapter 3:
identity of heirs
iv. What is the title of the part under which the chapter is nested?: Part 6 Distribution
Among Heirs or Beneficiaries
d. Based on the language of the statute, do you think that Heidi and Nathan have a parent-child
relationship for purposes of intestate succession in California? Do we need more information?
Explain your reasoning.
There is still more information under § 249.5 that would need to be researched before we could
conclusively say that they have a natural relationship. This is a statue in which all conditions
must be satisfied. Therefore, questions like was the specification signed and dated by the
decedent, etc would need to be true.
2. Jill also wants to confirm that California law will treat the precluded share of the Sacramento property as
part of Nathan’s intestate estate.
a. Write out your research question for this portion of the research.
i. Question: Will the precluded share portion of Nathan’s estate be considered to be a part
of his intestate estate?
b. Find the probate statute that defines what property is included in an intestate estate. You can
use the same or another secondary source, you can browse the CA Probate Code’s table of
contents, or you can try creating a search query. Provide me with the statute section in
Bluebook format and explain your research process (i.e. how you found this statute section).
i. Bluebook citation: Cal. Prob. Code § 6400 (1991).
ii. Explanation: I used the probate table of contents and looked under Wills and Intestate
Succession. Then I used the drop down which led me to Part 2: Intestate Succession, and
then under Chapter 1 Intestate Succession Generally—which is where I found this
statute named “Property subject to intestacy provisions”
c. Due to the undue influence exerted by one of the business partners to procure the execution of
the will, they are precluded from inheriting the share of the Sacramento property. Why might
the precluded share of the Sacramento property therefore be considered part of Nathan’s
intestate estate, based on the language of the statute?
Under § 6104 “The execution or revocation of a will or a part of a will is ineffective to the extent
the execution or revocation was procured by duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence.” Due to
this, they are precluded from inheriting the share of the Sacramento property. However, under
§ 6400 “Any part of the estate of a decedent not effectively disposed of by will passes to the
decedent's heirs as prescribed in this part.” Therefore, it would be considered as part of the
estate that Nathan’s heirs could inherent from because under § 6104 this section of the will was
not properly disposed of which under § 6400 allows it to be passed on.
d. Using the statute you found in question 2b as a starting point, use the “notes of decisions” to
find a California case that might help you interpret this aspect of the statute (i.e. whether the
intestate estate passes to the decedent’s heirs). Cite the case in Bluebook format and explain
why you chose this case.
i. Citation: Hernandez v. Kieferle, 200 Cal. App. 4th 419, 132 Cal. Rptr. 3d 725 (2011)
ii. Explanation: This case gives a good synopsis as to who is considered an heir and who
can inherent. The Case says “Section 44 defines “heir” to mean “any person, including
the surviving spouse, who is entitled to take property of the decedent by intestate
succession under [the Probate Code.]” Under section 6402.5, which falls within the
provisions governing intestacy (§ 6400 et seq.), the children of the decedent's
predeceased spouse may in some circumstances take the decedent's
property. Subdivision (a) of section 6402.5 states: “For purposes of distributing real
property ... [,] if the decedent had a predeceased spouse who died not more than 15
years before the decedent and there is no surviving spouse or issue of the decedent, the
portion of the decedent's estate attributable to the decedent's predeceased spouse
passes as follows: [¶] (1) If the decedent is survived by issue of the predeceased spouse,
to the surviving issue of the predeceased spouse....”
3. Assume that various issues have held up the probate process for over 20 years. Ignore the dates we
were using before and now pretend that Nathan died in 2001; and that Heidi was born in 2003.
a. Given the dates of death and birth, what problem now prevents us from using the statute you
found for question 1? Explain.
i. The statute did not go into effect until 2006,therefore they could not have reasonably
relied on a statue that was nonexistent.
b. What source(s) will you need to find to resolve this problem? You do not need to actually find
these sources, simply explain what you might rely upon in the absence of the statute you found
for question 1.
i. I might use secondary resources like journals that talk about these issues an what other
laws I could reasonably rely on.