Jacob Schuman: Frozen Embryos, Consents, and Divorce

A client of ours was pregnant, had embryos in cryostorage, and asked a question nobody on our side had a ready answer for: can the parenting plan say what happens to them? This conversation is the answer, from someone who works with those embryos for a living.Jacob Schuman is a career embryologist with roughly two decades in IVF laboratories. He holds a master's degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School plus the certifications required to manage a lab, and he also consults privately for patients who have been through multiple cycles and want a laboratory perspective on their results. He is candid that outcomes vary widely between clinics, and that a lab's technique and protocols account for a meaningful share of that variation.On the legal side, Schuman points everyone back to the consents. Those forms specify a disposition in the event of divorce, the death of a partner, or an unpaid storage bill, and courts start there. He walks through Davis v. Davis, the Tennessee Supreme Court case that declined to classify embryos as either property or life and reached for a middle category, weighing one partner's choice not to procreate against the other's wish to. He also describes a more recent Connecticut decision where the court simply enforced what the couple had signed at the clinic. Most states have no personhood rule here, which is why the paperwork carries so much weight.The practical half covers what to work out before a retrieval rather than during a divorce. The four things that can happen to a stored embryo, that storage itself has no shelf life as long as the bill is paid, and whether a signed parenting plan can amend the clinic's consent later, which Schuman thinks depends on whether both parties agree to the change. He also clears up common misconceptions, including that a larger number of embryos beats a smaller number of good ones, and points to the professional organizations worth reading before you make any of these decisions.As always, this is strategic education, not legal or mental-health advice for your specific situation.🎓 What you'll learnWhy the consent forms you sign at the clinic decide what happens to embryos laterWhat those consents cover: divorce, a partner's death, and an unpaid storage billDavis v. Davis, and the middle category courts reached for instead of property or lifeHow courts tend to rule when no consent can be producedWhether a later parenting plan or agreement can amend the clinic paperworkThe four dispositions available for a stored embryoThe questions worth asking each other before starting IVFCommon misconceptions, starting with more embryos being better than fewer good ones⏱️ Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:00 What an embryologist does, and why lab technique changes outcomes 5:00 What happens to embryos after separation, and why the consents decide 7:00 The two kinds of IVF disputes that reach a court 9:00 Davis v. Davis, and treating embryos as neither property nor persons 12:00 A Connecticut case that enforced the signed consent 13:00 When there's no record, and how states tend to rule 14:00 Can a parenting plan change what the clinic consent says 16:00 The questions to ask each other before starting IVF 17:00 The four options for a stored embryo, and what storage involves 18:00 Common misconceptions about IVF 21:00 Where to research, and how to reach JacobKeep going 💜 Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll help you map your next steps: https://beentheregotout.com/call 📘 Been There Got Out: Toxic Relationships, High-Conflict Divorce, and How to Stay Sane Under Insane Circumstances — https://www.amazon.com/dp/194627495X 📘 Been There Got Out: When Your Ex Turns the Kids Against You (our parental-alienation book) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967674183About Been There Got Out Chris Barry and Lisa Johnson are high-conflict divorce, custody, and co-parenting strategists, and the founders of Been There Got Out. They know these cases from the inside: both have successfully represented themselves in family court. Few attorneys have a playbook for a case like this — Chris and Lisa write yours with you, so you and your kids can get through it as unscathed as possible.