If you are good pals with a lesbian couple and they determine that they like the looks of your potential genome, can you donate sperm to them and be totally protected against it coming back to bite you in the rear end of they break up and the baby mama and/or the state is looking for a source of funds to support the child?
IIRC if you enter into such an arrangement you do so with a vicious attack lawyer hired by you to draft the agreement.
Why would donating to a lesbian (or lesbian couple) be any different from donating to a straight woman (or couple)?
In some states, same sex couples cannot both be listed on the birth certificate - that could probably make a difference.
I think that with a straight married couple there is a legal father for the state to go after for child support. Since (most) states don’t even recognize that the non-birthing lesbian partner exists at all, they will be more likely to go after the sperm donor.
First kid is a freebee?
The State probably can’t seek child support unless the child receives public benefits, or the mother/custodial parent requests the State’s assistance in collecting support.
At least in my state, the father cannot protect himself from child support via contract, because the right to support belongs to the child not the mother.
You’ll note from the article that he was very active in the kids life, and they even called him ‘dad’. This surely had a huge bearing on the outcome.
While I have not come across a case like that, I have had a few where one person gave birth and her partner adopted the child. Legally the adoptive mother is the other parent.
If they split up either the birth mother or the adoptive mother, whichever walked out, would be liable for support.
Suppose the birth mother takes the kid and walks out?
The law in CA is that the artificial insemination has to be done by a doctor to qualify as sperm donation. If you do it yourself (the turkey baster method), then you’re on the hook.
I don’t think all states have this level of protection.