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Sperm Donor Ordered to Pay Child Support; for 18-Year-Old
Topic Started: Dec 3 2007, 04:53 PM (73 Views)
24thcenstfan
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Sperm Donor Ordered to Pay Child Support for 18-Year-Old

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A New York doctor who donated his sperm to help a gay colleague conceive has been ordered to pay child support for the boy, now an 18-year-old living in Oregon, the New York Post reported Sunday.

The donor was a married doctor at a Long Island hospital in the late 1980s when he donated his sperm to a female hospital resident who was trying to have a baby with her lesbian partner, the Post reported. Although the donor gave up all claims and rights to the child, he allowed his name to be put on the birth certificate.

Click here to read the full story at the New York Post.

For several years after the boy's birth in 1989, the doctor sent the child gifts and money and cards signed "Dad" and had regular contact with the child, the Post reported. However, when the boy moved to Oregon with his mother and her partner in 1993, regular contact stopped. Since then, the man's contact with the child consisted of seven phone calls and one brief meeting over the past 15 years.

A New York family court judge ruled last month that the man must now pay child support for the boy, now 18 and heading to college, the Post reported.
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24thcenstfan
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Huh? This is the nuttiest thing I have read in a while. Several problems with this.

1) The "child" is 18 years old. I thought child support legally ended at 18 years old when he/she became an adult. I guess it doesn't in the state of New York.

2) A sperm donor should not have to pay child support IMO. Whether the donor is known or anonymous (through a sperm bank). Unless the donor and the mother make those arrangements from the get go, a sperm donor should not have any legal obligations to the child.

We probably don't have all the details, but on the surface I am just dumb founded that the biological mother pursued this legally this late in the game.

They didn't go through a sperm bank, but I can bet this ruling will affect them eventually. Men will be less likely to donate. Which will ultimately mean it will be harder for women to find donation sperm.
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ImpulseEngine
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That is ludicrous! I had pretty much the same thoughts as you 24. I didn't think there was child support past age 18. And I agree that males will be more reluctant to donate sperm. According to the article, it also happened in another case. In both cases, it sounds like they are basing the "paternal responsibility" claim on the males interactions with the children. So now after a male is generous enough to donate sperm, if they are even more generous and donate gifts or spend some time with the children, they're vulnerable to being stuck with paying child support. :no:

Males will now need to get a legal contract from the females that they will never come looking for child support or for other responsibilities from the male in order to protect themselves. However, in the case of sperm banks, the male never knows who the female is. The whole thing could get sticky. That ultimately means many males just won't take the risk or bother.

This is sad. :(
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24thcenstfan
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I can't help but think the man can take this to an appeal's court to try and get the lower court ruling overturned.

Whether the agreement was put in writing or not, they had a verbal agreement that the father was giving up all legal rights.

I don't know how the law works in NY, but longstanding verbal agreements are in many cases considered as binding as a signed contract. You see similar situations with common law marriages.

I hope this man does have some recourse, because I think this ruling is terrible.
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TribbleMom
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I certainly hope he can get this overruled. If he gave up all claims and rights to the child, then he should have been relieved of all responsibilities as well.
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