I'm a Maryland man looking to be a known sperm donor. This would mean that I am donating sperm through artificial insemination, but not under the supervision of a doctor or sperm bank, and that the recipient knows me. In this situation I'm not looking to be considered the father, I do not expect to have any legal rights or responsibilities to the child; including, but not limited to, the paying of child support.
My own research indicates that any time a man is involved in the conception of a child, other then through the use of anonymous sperm banks, he is considered the legal father with all responsibilities that entails. What I would like to determine is rather the signing of a legal contract by both parties prior to conception will be sufficient to ensure that I am treated legally in the same fashion as an donor through a fertility clinic, ie with no rights/responsibilities towards the child.
Here are some sample contracts I have found online intended for use for known sperm donors.:
Sample Known Sperm Donor Contract
To complicate this question further I have a number of questions about possible situations that I believe may change my legal rights or invalidate a contract. I would love an answer to any of these questions that I can get, although I don't honestly expect anyone to be able to answer all of them-at least not without a good bit of research first.
1) If I continue to maintain some involvement in the child's development, as allowed by the mother and without claiming any legal rights as a father, could the above contract still protect me? Basically I want the option to help in the child's growth, but I don't want the obligation of parenthood, nor do I want to interfere with the mothers right to be the 'sole' parent to the child.
2) closely related to 1, can a contract provide me with minimal parental rights but limit my rights only to the ones included in the contract. In particular I'm wondering what would happen if a disaster were to occur both of the child's parents were to die (and living relative could/would not adopt the child). I would like to be able to claim some sort of 'last resort' right to adopt the child rather then having them placed in foster care. I'm currently moving to foster on my own (yeah I really like messing with the concept of 'fatherhood') so being able to adopt the child instead of letting them go into child services is just cutting out the middle man IMO.
3) could a contract between all three parties be written in such a way as to make it clear that the mothers spouse should be considered the parent of the child instead of me? Basically my transferring any assumed parental rights to the real parent. Would this have any power to confer the ability for the spouse to claim parental rights to the child in areas not involving me directly? For instance if the spouse were to claim the child as their kid for tax purposes or under an insurance policy. I'm assuming the spouse would still need to adopt the child to have those rights?
4) does the method of insemination matter. While I doubt it would happen, would the use of NI (Natural Insemination) result in a different legal responsibility then AI(artificial insemination)?
5) Does my state of residence play any factor in this? For example would conception in Virginia instead of Maryland somehow effect the legal issues?
and finally 6) how would I go about modifying one of the generic documents for known donors I have found online to include one of the special cases I listed above (assuming they even apply). Preferable without paying thousands of dollars to a lawyer. Would my modifying the document myself and trusting to my own intelligence and legal savvy be sufficient, or is that a recipe for loopholes and disasters?
Any information would be appreciated, even a link to anywhere I could go to research the information better myself would be useful. I do not plan to get a lawyer involved in this. I trust the mother-to-be and am not going to fork over good money to a lawyer out of some misguided distrust of her. Still I would like to have as legally sound a contract as possible without getting a lawyer involved.
Thank you
My own research indicates that any time a man is involved in the conception of a child, other then through the use of anonymous sperm banks, he is considered the legal father with all responsibilities that entails. What I would like to determine is rather the signing of a legal contract by both parties prior to conception will be sufficient to ensure that I am treated legally in the same fashion as an donor through a fertility clinic, ie with no rights/responsibilities towards the child.
Here are some sample contracts I have found online intended for use for known sperm donors.:
Sample Known Sperm Donor Contract
To complicate this question further I have a number of questions about possible situations that I believe may change my legal rights or invalidate a contract. I would love an answer to any of these questions that I can get, although I don't honestly expect anyone to be able to answer all of them-at least not without a good bit of research first.
1) If I continue to maintain some involvement in the child's development, as allowed by the mother and without claiming any legal rights as a father, could the above contract still protect me? Basically I want the option to help in the child's growth, but I don't want the obligation of parenthood, nor do I want to interfere with the mothers right to be the 'sole' parent to the child.
2) closely related to 1, can a contract provide me with minimal parental rights but limit my rights only to the ones included in the contract. In particular I'm wondering what would happen if a disaster were to occur both of the child's parents were to die (and living relative could/would not adopt the child). I would like to be able to claim some sort of 'last resort' right to adopt the child rather then having them placed in foster care. I'm currently moving to foster on my own (yeah I really like messing with the concept of 'fatherhood') so being able to adopt the child instead of letting them go into child services is just cutting out the middle man IMO.
3) could a contract between all three parties be written in such a way as to make it clear that the mothers spouse should be considered the parent of the child instead of me? Basically my transferring any assumed parental rights to the real parent. Would this have any power to confer the ability for the spouse to claim parental rights to the child in areas not involving me directly? For instance if the spouse were to claim the child as their kid for tax purposes or under an insurance policy. I'm assuming the spouse would still need to adopt the child to have those rights?
4) does the method of insemination matter. While I doubt it would happen, would the use of NI (Natural Insemination) result in a different legal responsibility then AI(artificial insemination)?
5) Does my state of residence play any factor in this? For example would conception in Virginia instead of Maryland somehow effect the legal issues?
and finally 6) how would I go about modifying one of the generic documents for known donors I have found online to include one of the special cases I listed above (assuming they even apply). Preferable without paying thousands of dollars to a lawyer. Would my modifying the document myself and trusting to my own intelligence and legal savvy be sufficient, or is that a recipe for loopholes and disasters?
Any information would be appreciated, even a link to anywhere I could go to research the information better myself would be useful. I do not plan to get a lawyer involved in this. I trust the mother-to-be and am not going to fork over good money to a lawyer out of some misguided distrust of her. Still I would like to have as legally sound a contract as possible without getting a lawyer involved.
Thank you