A Los Angeles man willed 15 vials of his sperm to his girlfriend before killing himself, and his children asked the court to destroy them

In October 1991 William Everett Kane, 48, deposited 15 vials of sperm at California Cryobank in Los Angeles and authorised release to Deborah Hecht, his partner of about five years. His will of 27 September 1991 made her executor and left her "all right, title, and interest" in his sperm. A letter to his two adult children, William Jr. and Katharine, said he had been producing frozen samples so Hecht could have his child after his death. On 30 October 1991 he took his life in a Las Vegas hotel. On 3 December 1991 the children filed will contests. A settlement the same day split estate assets above $190,000: 20 percent to Hecht, 40 percent to each child. On 4 January 1993 the probate court ordered all the sperm destroyed. On 17 June 1993 the Court of Appeal held that Kane had a property interest in his sperm and set the order aside. On 26 April 1994 a probate judge gave Hecht three vials, 20 percent, under the settlement formula. The children appealed again; her doctors said her chances of pregnancy had fallen since she turned 40. On 28 August 1995 the Court of Appeal ordered the vials released at once. A 1996 appellate opinion in the case was depublished by order of the California Supreme Court on 15 January 1997. Reports say Hecht did not conceive^†.