NY Magistrate Recognizes Cal. Surrogacy Contract

In a New York child-support proceeding, Family Court Support Magistrate Rachel J. Parisi (Suffolk County) upheld a California judgment of paternity for twins conceived pursuant to the terms of a gestational surrogacy contract.  The judge accorded the judgment full faith and credit despite New York's public policy barring surrogacy contracts.  The court pointed out that the issue was not the validity of the underlying surrogacy contract but, rather, a subsequent judgment of paternity.

The NYLJ reports:

D.P. is the twins' biological father. T.R. was his romantic partner.

Both men are New York residents. Because New York law does not recognize surrogacy contracts, they entered into a surrogacy agreement with a woman in California, one of approximately 38 states to legally recognize such contracts.

Surrogacy contracts were barred in New York in 1992 by state legislators, some of whom decried the process as "baby selling."

Many New Yorkers now go out of state to set up legally enforceable surrogate agreements—Sara Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick famously hired a Ohio surrogate in 2008.

An interesting development for non-biological parents in surrogacy arrangements, one which assures their parentage will be recognized even though the contract itself would not be enforced in New York.

Matter of Support Proceeding, NYLJ 1202474012528, at *1 (Fam., SU, Decided October 4, 2010)

[Meredith R. Miller]