Daddy Or Donor Of Semen??

Jason and Danielle tried to have a baby both naturally and by means of in vitro fertilization [IVF] but were unsuccessful. The two began to live separately. Two or three years after their first attempt to conceive, Jason gave Danielle a letter in which he wrote that he was not ready to be a father, but if Danielle wanted to use his sperm to conceive, she had his blessing as long as she did not tell others. Danielle used Jason’s sperm and conceived by use of IVF. In fact, Jason drove her to the fertility clinic, and on various clinic forms, Danielle wrote that Jason was the intended parent.  Jason was active in the baby’s life for the first two and a half years, until Danielle terminated his relationship with the child. Jason filed a petition to establish a parental relationship, and the trial court ruled against him. Family Code section 7613(b) states: “The donor of semen provided to a licensed physician . . . is treated in law as if he were not the natural parent of a child thereby conceived, unless otherwise agreed to in a writing signed by the donor and the woman prior to the conception of the child.” In Steven S. v. Deborah D. (2005) 127 Cal.App.4th 319, [25 Cal.Rptr.3d 482], the court held: “There can be no paternity claim from a sperm donor who is not married to the woman who becomes pregnant with the donated sperm, so long as it was provided to a licensed physician.” In the instant case, however, the appellate court confessed it should not have been so categorical “because we were not faced with a donor seeking to establish paternity under [Family Code] section 7611, the presumed parentage statute, and therefore had no occasion to consider whether section 7613(b) does not preclude a donor from establishing that he is a presumed father under 7611.” The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding section 7613(b) does not preclude Jason from establishing presumed parentage. (Jason P. v. Danielle S. (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 4; May 14, 2014)226 Cal.App.4th 167.)