Paternity, Sperm Donors & Laws

Few areas of the law are evolving as rapidly as the area dealing with paternity, sperm donors and artificial insemination. The law tends to be static and has trouble catching up to scientific advances. As of now, many cases are dealt on a case-by-case basis.

The Pennsylvania Family Lawyer writes on a recent case decided in Pennsylvania:

The court looked at the spectrum of cases regarding child support obligations where the parties are not married. On one side, they affirmed that children born from a sexual relationship are always entitled to child support, and neither parent can give up the child’s right before or after birth. On the other side, anonymous sperm donors are absolved of child support obligations, because to do otherwise would mean that such arrangements would not occur.

For the full post please see Known Sperm Donor Has No Duty for Payment of Child Support.

Note: This decision does not apply to Chicago, Illinois. However, it should give you an idea of how courts generally decide these new cases where no specific statute applies to the facts of the case.