Court Declares Surrogacy Agreement Void.
SteveK January 23rd, 2010
In A.G.R. v. D.R.H. ( also known as Robinson v. Hollingsworth), the Superior Court in Hudson County continued the long standing public policy in New Jersey of voiding surrogacy agreements. The New Jersey Supreme Court first established this policy In The Matter of Baby M.
The defendants in the present matter, D.R. and S.H. are a male gay couple, legally married in California. They registered their Domestic Partnership in New Jersey. Defendant, D.R. is the brother of Plaintiff, A.G.R. Twins were conceived using sperm from S.H. and eggs from an anonymous donor. A.G.R. carried the twins, as a gestational surrogate only. The children were born and a consent to adoption was signed by A.G.R. in favor of D.R. and S.H. thus terminating any parental rights she may have had. A.G.R. then contested the gestational surrogacy agreement and sought parental rights. In the Baby M case, the surrogate mother, Ms. Whitehead, was also the natural mother of the child. In this case, however, the Defendants argued that since there was no genetic link between the surrogate mother and the child, the result should be different. Judge Schultz disagreed and on December 23, 2009 ruled in favor of the Plaintiff, by declaring gestational surrogacy agreements to be a violation of the public policy of the State of New Jersey. The court voided the Consent to adoption, declared S.H. to be the father of the twins, and declared that A.G.R.’s parental rights remained undisturbed.
DiFrancesco, Bateman, Coley, Yospin, Kunzman, Davis & Lehrer, PC ( http://www.dbnjlawblog.com) is a full service law firm in New Jersey which provides a broad range of legal services, including the representation of parties in matrimonial and family law matters. For additional information about the matters in this bulletin or in the firm’s family law practice please contact James Moloughney, Esq.
- Divorce Law , Family Law , Marital Law , Matrimonial Law
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