View Single Post
Old 07-10-2003, 07:20 AM   #1 (permalink)
cchris
Junkie
 
cchris's Avatar
 
Location: Sydney
Liable to pay child support??????????????

It would appear that the World has gone mad.(Again).

The Family Court needs a major overhaul.

That's just my opinion and I welcome comments.


Father liable in old-fashioned way

LINK TO STORY


By Monica Videnieks
July 11, 2003

A VICTORIAN man who donated his sperm in the "usual and customary manner" - by having sex with a lesbian - has been found liable to pay child support.

Despite the man and the lesbian couple agreeing the sperm donor would have no legal rights or financial responsibilities to the child, the Family Court found the man was responsible because the baby was conceived through sex.

Had the father, known only as ND, supplied his sperm through artificial means, or had his child been adopted, he would not be liable for the financial rearing of the child.

The judgment, which upheld an earlier Melbourne magistrate's decision that ND be assessed to pay maintenance, was yesterday labelled "outrageous" by men's groups.

"The way the sperm was donated should be irrelevant," said Sue Price, director of the Men's Rights Agency. "This will totally close off the minds of men contemplating donating their sperm."

Justice Joseph Kay said that because conception was carried out in the "old-fashioned way", the man was legally responsible to financially support his biological child - and one parent could not waive a right to seek child support from another parent.

"Especially where conception was 'in the usual and customary manner', the biological parent was the parent at law," Justice Kay said.

The court was told the biological parents were a couple in 1997, but within a year the mother, known as BM, left him to begin a lesbian relationship. She underwent a "ceremony of marriage" with her female partner, known as LP, in 1998.

Soon after, the women asked ND - and he agreed - to donate sperm for their child.

In the seven to 10 days following the agreement, the three decided the man would have no legal rights to the child, the child would not be told he was the father, the man would not seek any parental role, he would not financially support the child and should the women separate, LP would provide financial support.

The man had sex with BM on three occasions in the presence of her partner.

It is not clear why the mother asked the magistrate's court to order the man be assessed to pay child support.
__________________
There's a fine line between participation and mockery
cchris is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360