A U.S. District Judge in Georgia issued a ruling on August 27 that a married male couple’s daughter, conceived through donor insemination from a donated egg with an English woman serving as gestational surrogate, should be deemed a natural-born U.S. citizen and entitled to a passport over the objections of the State Department. The complication in this case is that the spouse whose sperm was used was not a U.S. citizen at the time, although … <Read More>
gestational surrogacy
N.Y. Appellate Division Revives Gay Dad’s Petition to Adopt His Son Conceived Through Gestational Surrogacy
A unanimous four-judge panel of the Brooklyn-based New York Appellate Division (2nd Department) revived a gay dad’s petition to adopt his son, reversing a “clearly erroneous” decision by Queens County Family Court John M. Hunt. Hunt stated two reasons for dismissing the adoption petition: first, that the child was the result of a gestational surrogacy contract, and Hunt said permitting the adoption would validate “a patently illegal surrogacy contract,” and, second, that there was no … <Read More>
British Appeals Court Affirms Residential Child Custody for Gay Male Couple in Contest with Gestational Surrogate
A unanimous three-judge panel of the England and Wales Court of Appeal issued a decision on November 17 affirming a ruling by Justice Lucy Theis of the High Court Family Division that a gay male couple should have residential custody of a child born as a result of an unenforceable gestational surrogacy agreement they had entered with a married woman who sought to keep the child. Between: H (A Child); Re H (Surrogacy Breakdown), [2017] … <Read More>
11th Circuit Rejects Tax Deductibility of Surrogacy Expenses
A gay male couple that wants to have a child who is genetically related to one of the men needs to retain the services of at least one and possibly two women, depending whether they are going to use ordinary surrogacy or gestational surrogacy to have the child. Should those expenses be deductible if they exceed the threshold set by the Internal Revenue Code for deductible medical expenses? On September 25, the 11th Circuit … <Read More>
N.Y. Appellate Division Upholds Vacating Adoption by Father’s New Boyfriend on Petition by Father’s Husband
On September 28, 2017, a unanimous five-judge panel of the N.Y. Appellate Division, First Department, held that New York County Family Court Judge Stewart H. Weinstein had properly granted a motion by Han Ming T., the husband of Marco D., to vacate a May 2016 order that had granted an adoption petition by Carlos A., Marco’s boyfriend, to adopt a child conceived through gestational surrogacy using Marco’s sperm at a time when Marco and Han … <Read More>
The Power of Full Faith & Credit and a Jury
Putting together the power of the U.S. Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause and a verdict by a jury who got to see the parties testify, a Texas gay co-parent has preserved his status as “sole managing conservator” of the child he and his former partner/spouse conceived with the help of a gestational surrogate. Herein lies a somewhat complicated tale providing new evidence of the extraordinary developments in LGBT family law over the past few … <Read More>
Nevada Supreme Court Answers Questions of First Impression in Lesbian Custody Dispute Involving Donor Insemination and Co-Parenting Agreement
The Nevada Supreme Court ruled unanimously on October 3 that a child can have two mothers and that a co-parenting agreement made by two women before their child was conceived through anonymous donor insemination with one woman providing the egg and the other being the gestational mother, can be enforceable as an agreement by parents who are presumed to have the best interest of their child at heart. Reversing a trial court decision that treated … <Read More>