In re Adoption of Anonymous
Surrogate's Court of New York
345 N.Y.S.2d 430 (1973)
A husband (defendant) consented to his wife's (plaintiff) pregnancy via artificial insemination by an anonymous donor, was listed as the father on the birth certificate, and continued to be treated as the child's father in both the couple's later separation agreement and divorce decree, providing financial support and maintaining contact under the divorce terms. After the mother remarried, her new husband (plaintiff) sought to adopt the child, but the first husband refused to consent, and the mother argued his consent wasn't legally required since he wasn't a "legal parent" given the child's donor-conception origins.
Whether a husband who consents to his wife's artificial insemination by an anonymous donor is a legal parent of the resulting child.