What it means
One sentence of law: heirs conceived before the decedent's death but born thereafter inherit intestate property as if they had been born in the decedent's lifetime. A child on the way when a parent dies loses nothing to the timing of the birth.
The line it draws is conception, and the line is hard. A child conceived after death — through stored genetic material, for instance — is outside the statute and takes nothing by intestacy, a result §742.17(4) reinforces for posthumously conceived children.
- Conceived before death, born after → inherits as if born in the decedent's lifetime.
- Conceived after death → outside the statute; §742.17(4) bars a claim against the estate unless the decedent's will provides for the child.
- Applies to intestate property and to heirs generally — a grandchild in gestation at the death is protected the same way.
How it plays out
This section usually appears in two shapes. The ordinary one: a father dies while his partner is pregnant, and the child, once born, is simply an heir — we list the child, and the timing is irrelevant. The harder one is posthumous conception, where stored sperm or embryos are used after death. Florida's answer is blunt — conception must precede death — and the same line controlled federal survivor benefits in Astrue v. Capato, a case decided under Florida intestacy law.
Where this shows up
Pages on this site where § 732.106 does real work:
Questions people ask
