This item was on the "Frivolous Lawsuits" board. It was suggested that I start the topic here.
I was watching 60 Minutes the other night, and they did a story on an 18 year old girl, conceived by artificial insemination, who located her biological father, a sperm donor. This leads me to wonder-has any man who has donated (sold would be the more correct term) to a sperm bank ever been sued for current and back child support? It would be extremely unfair if it did happen. A man could get hit for support on a kid he never knew about and had no say in his/her conception.
Child support is usually an ugly issue. The husband (should I politically correct and call him the non-custodial parent?) has only one weapon to use when the wife (in PC, the custodial parent) withholds visitation. In the end it is at least one parent (usually both) using the kids to "get at" the other parent. Other than nod politely and say, "Yup, the other person is a donkey," there is nothing you would want to do. Getting the other side of the story would be as much fun as disemboweling yourself with a spoon.
This is clear-cut. The guy expected privacy and somewhere that privacy was lost. He has a suit against somebody. When he "donated" the sperm he gave up any control over it. If the clinic decides to use it to study sperm's reaction to hydrochloric acid he does not have the right to say, "Not with my sperm you don't." He lacks that right because it is no longer "his" sperm.
Of course, the law is donkey. It will probably happen that some 1diot will say he knew it was a possibility when he "donated" it. His "say" occurred in the clinic office.
Michael Jackson seems to be an expert on both subjects...ask him!
In theory, the man who "donates" to a sperm bank may be liable to pay support to any child who donates to a sperm bank. As I understand it, sperm banks require the recipients to sign a contract which waives their right to collect child support against the biological father. However, many states regard child support as being primarily for the benefit of the child, and a parent cannot waive the child's right to recieve support. So while the woman couldn't collect child support from the father, in theory, the child, once he or she becomes an adult, could collect back child support against the man. Since the sperm banks know that they would be out of business if this happened, the banks agree to keep the donor's name confidential, and some states have laws which protect the anonymity of donors.
Maquis Lawyer,
It took a while to figure out this is a typo(?)
In theory, the man who "donates" to a sperm bank may be liable to pay support to any child who donates to a sperm bank. I was wondering what if the child is female.
Sorry, I should learn to prufred better.