Here we go. Give an inch

[CCTAU 3,328]

This would be like my wife and I using a friend's sperm to get pregnant and then suing him for child support. These things chose to be lesbians and then chose to have a child. Now they want to blame/use another person for their actions. Unbelievable. The judge should have laughed at them as they were being thrown out of court.

Pennsylvania Court Orders Sperm Donor to Lesbian Couple to Pay Child Support

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — A sperm donor who helped a lesbian couple conceive two children is liable for child support under a state appellate court ruling that a legal expert believes might be the first of its kind in the U.S.

A Superior Court panel last week ordered a Dauphin County judge to establish how much Carl L. Frampton Jr. would have to pay to the birth mother of the 8-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl.

"I'm unaware of any other state appellate court that has found that a child has, simultaneously, three adults who are financially obligated to the child's support and are also entitled to visitation," said New York Law School professor Arthur S. Leonard, an expert on sexuality and the law.

But Frampton, 60, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, died suddenly of a stroke in March, leaving lawyers involved in the case with different theories about how his death may affect the precedent-setting case.

Jodilynn Jacob, 33, and Jennifer Lee Shultz-Jacob, 48, moved in together as a couple in 1996, and were granted a civil-union license in Vermont in 2002. In addition to conceiving the two children with the help of Frampton — a longtime friend of Shultz-Jacob's — Jacob also adopted her brother's two older children, now 12 and 13

(Story continues below)

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But the women's relationship fell apart, and Jacob and the children moved out of their Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, home in February 2006.

Shortly afterward, a court awarded her about $1,000 a month in support from Shultz-Jacob. Shultz-Jacob later lost an effort to have the court force Frampton to contribute support — a decision that the Superior Court overturned April 30.

Jacob, who now lives in Harrisburg, said Frampton provided some financial support over the years and gradually took a greater interest in the children.

"Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them," Jacob said Wednesday. "It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa."

The process was very informal — Jacob was inseminated at home.

In his written opinion requiring Frampton to help pay for the child's support, Superior Court Judge John T.J. Kelly Jr. noted that Frampton spent thousands of dollars on the children, including purchases of toys and clothing.

The children knew he was their biological father, but Frampton opposed the effort to compel support from him.

"We made the argument that, according to Pennsylvania law as it stands, there can really only be two adult individuals that can be held liable for support in a child-custody case," said Frampton's lawyer, Matthew Aaron Smith.

Shultz-Jacob's lawyer, Heather Z. Reynosa, wants Frampton's support obligation to be made retroactive to when Jacob first filed for support. Frampton's Social Security survivor benefits may also help reduce Shultz-Jacob's monthly obligation.

It is unclear how the child-support guidelines, which assume two parents, will be adapted to account for three parents.

"That's what's going to be interesting, because there's not a whole lot of guidance out there," Reynosa said.

The state Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case, in which a sperm donor wants to enforce a promise made by the mother that he would not have to be involved in the child's life. That biological father was ordered to pay $1,520 in monthly support.

About two-thirds of states have adopted versions of the Uniform Parentage Act that can shield sperm donors from being forced to assume parenting responsibilities. Pennsylvania has no such law.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271116,00.html

[otterinbham 0]

"Inseminated at home..." So what did they use? A turkey baster?

If this guy had had a lick of sense, he would have had all kinds of agreements signed holding him harmless from any kind of child support.

[quietfan 233]

I don't see how this a gay issue at all. It could just as easily have been a heterosexual couple who used the donated sperm of a friend because the husband was infertile.

But I agree with Otter--anyone who gets into the sperm donating process should be sure he is covered by ironclad legal documentation regarding what his future role & responsibilities will be.

[TexasTiger 12,956]

I don't see how this a gay issue at all. It could just as easily have been a heterosexual couple who used the donated sperm of a friend because the husband was infertile.

But I agree with Otter--anyone who gets into the sperm donating process should be sure he is covered by ironclad legal documentation regarding what his future role & responsibilities will be.

Yep.

[townhallsavoy 2]

"Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them," Jacob said Wednesday. "It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa."

I think this is more than a "homosexual" issue.

[ssgaufan 0]

"Part of the decision came down because he was so involved with them," Jacob said Wednesday. "It wasn't that he went to the (sperm) bank and that was it. They called him Papa."

I think this is more than a "homosexual" issue.

I think you are right. If she was "inseminated" at home, and he was involved in their lives, then maybe there was a little more "inseminating" going on and that's why the lesbian couple ended their relationship.

[CCTAU 3,328]

Usually straight couples want the child and stay together. If they don't they treat it as if it was their own. This is PRECEDENT setting, BECAUSE it was 2 women and now one doesn't want to pay so she brings a man in. If this had been a straight couple, the judge probably would have told them ahead of time that they chose to have this child, it's their responsibility. I'm sure others have tried it but the fact that it was two women certainly allowed it to go farther. This is after all the librul courts new agenda.