Case Law In Kansas Sperm Donor Case
The primary case on this issue was decided before the Supreme Court of Kansas in Frazier v. Gourdschaal, which held that the Kansas Parentage Act (KSA) did not prevent a presumptive mother from claiming that she was an interested party in the case. In Frazier, there was a written co-parenting agreement between the two women stating that the non-birth mother was acting as a parent to the child conceived through artificial insemination. The court held that when determining whether a presumptive parent can be an interested party, the courts must examine the entire statute. The statute states that parentage can be established through two methods: (1) when a “parent ‘notoriously’ recognizes parentage” and (2) if a parent recognizes the child through a written agreement. Thus, the non-birth mother was considered an interested party. A court of appeals in Kansas found that this was also the case in Downs v. Gilmore, holding that a non-birth mother has standing as an interested party if she was able to show that she held the child out as her daughter. The court argued that this did not establish a parent-child relationship, only that a non-birth mother can enter the case as an interested party.
See Downs v. Gilmore, No. 108,176, Kansas Court of Appeals.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.