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Paternity Vs. Court Case Study

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LEGAL BRIEF To: Attorney Barone From: Cynthia Fitzgerald Date: December 8, 2010 Re: Paternity & Maternity of Infant R. Court of Appeals of Indiana, No. 64A03-0908-JV-367 FACTS: T and V are husband and wife. They entered into a surrogacy agreement with V’s sister, D to implant in D an embryo created from T’s sperm and V’s egg. A successful pregnancy resulted and Baby R was born in February 2009. Two months earlier in December 2008 T, V, and D petitioned the Porter County Juvenile Court to establish paternity and maternity of the unborn child. The father, T, was able to establish paternity at that time simply by filling out an affidavit. The mother, V, was statutorily unable to prove maternity and her petition was denied. This is a case of first impression in this State. ISSUE: The question before the court is, according to Indiana Statute, did the trial court erroneously deny the maternity petition, which sought to establish V as the legal mother of Baby R.? …show more content…

16-37-2-2.1. Indiana has no statutory provision to establish maternity in these circumstances. In fact, Ind. Code sec. 31-9-2-10 defines the birth parent to be “the woman who is legally presumed to be the mother of biological origin” and therefore “the mother’s legal obligations to her child arise when she gives birth.” It should be noted that until maternity for V is established, D is legally responsible for Baby

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