In one of the more unusual cases to confront the Colorado courts, the El
Paso County Probate Court in Colorado Springs has granted Holme Roberts
& Owen (HRO) client Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale,
Arizona, custody of the remains of Colorado Springs nurse Mary Robbins.
The ruling upheld Ms. Robbins’s 2006 agreement with Alcor to have her
head cryonically preserved after death, hoping that future technologies
could bring her back to life.
“It's not unusual for there to be disputes, because what Alcor
does is novel to so many people”
Colorado Springs HRO Litigation Partner Eric Bentley was joined by
Denver Special Counsel Norv Brasch of the firm’s Private Client Services
Group. “It's not unusual for there to be disputes, because what Alcor
does is novel to so many people,” Bentley said, “and there's always a
chance that relatives will have strong feelings about these matters when
they learn that a relative has expressed this wish for the disposition
of their remains.” From a legal perspective, Brasch notes that the
Court’s ruling addressed and resolved several novel issues in the
Colorado Probate Code. “The Alcor case stands for the principle
that an individual’s end-of-life directives will prevail over the
preferences – even the objections – of surviving family members.”
The March 1 ruling followed a full-day emergency hearing on February 26
before El Paso County Probate Court Magistrate Barbara Hughes, who
delivered an unmitigated victory to Alcor in a forceful, six-page
opinion. Ms. Robbins’s family and friends claimed that, two days before
her death on February 9, she had revoked her wish to be cryonically
preserved and diverted the annuity funds designated for her preservation
to her daughters. The case hinged on whether Mary's long-standing desire
to be held in cryosuspension would be honored in the face of this claim.