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Old 07-10-2003, 07:20 AM   #1 (permalink)
cchris
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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.
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