In re Marriage of Witbeck-Wildhagen
Appellate Court of Illinois for the Fourth District
667 N.E.2d 122 (Ill. App. Ct. 1996)
Marcia Witbeck-Wildhagen (plaintiff) and Eric Wildhagen visited a fertility clinic to discuss artificial insemination, where Eric explicitly told both the nurse and Marcia that he did not consent and did not want to participate. Marcia nevertheless returned to the clinic without his consent, underwent the procedure, and became pregnant; blood tests later confirmed Eric was not the biological father. Marcia filed to dissolve the marriage and asked the court to order Eric to pay child support for the child. The trial court, applying an Illinois statute deeming a husband the legal father only if he consented to his wife's insemination, held Eric was not the legal father and denied child support. Marcia appealed.
Whether an individual's lack of consent to a partner's artificial insemination precludes both the establishment of a parent-child relationship and the imposition of child-support obligations on that individual.