A Texas man, who has been paying child support since 2008 to a woman who gave birth after through artificial insemination, has won an appellate court ruling that says he is no longer responsible for child support payments. The former Texas police officer and bodybuilder had dated the woman briefly in 1991.
She reportedly moved to California in 2001 and decided in 2006 to have children. The Texas bodybuilder agreed to donate sperm in 2006, and the woman had triplets in 2007. The Texas resident who donated the sperm was listed on the kid's birth certificates and he reportedly signed a declaration of paternity.
Unfortunately one of the triplets died. The mother sued the Texas man in 2008 for child support. The legal battle continued over the child support payments after a judge ruled that the man owed child support for the two children. The man appealed and an appellate court has ruled that under California law, the sperm donor is not responsible for child support payments. Notably, Texas has a similar law for sperm donors.
Although the Texas resident will not be required to make the payments under the appellate court ruling, it appears that he will not be able to recover thousands of dollars that he had paid under the trial court ruling.
The ruling was made under another state's laws, but as the case illustrates, family law issues can be complex. Trial court rulings in family law cases, like other areas of the law, at times need to be appealed to determine some complex family law issues. It is also important to note that an experienced North Houston family law attorney can be beneficial at all stages of a family law dispute to help ensure that the right arguments are brought at all stages of a court proceeding.
Source: ABC 13/Associated Press, "Court says Texas sperm donor owes no child support," April 11, 2012