Section 30.10 In Vitro Fertilization and Custody Issues

• Library: Family Law Deskbook and 2014 Supp

D. (§30.10) In Vitro Fertilization and Custody Issues

Who are the parents of a child born through IVF (in vitro fertilization)? Appellate courts in several jurisdictions, including New York, Tennessee, and California, have answered this question. In each case, the court found that the parents who intended to cause the birth of a child and raise the child were the legal parents.

In McDonald v. McDonald, 608 N.Y.S.2d 477 (N.Y. App. Div. 1994), the husband took the position, in a divorce proceeding, that the wife had no custody rights to the children because she was not genetically related to them. The husband and wife had gone through IVF, combining donor eggs with the husband’s sperm to create preembryos, which...