In re Roberto d.B.
Court of Appeals of Maryland
923 A.2d 115 (Md. 2007)
Roberto d.B. (plaintiff), a single man, used his own sperm, an anonymous egg donor, and an unrelated gestational surrogate (who agreed in advance to relinquish all parental rights) to have twins via in vitro fertilization; the surrogate, though genetically unconnected to the children, was listed as their mother on the birth certificates, while Roberto was correctly listed as father. Roberto petitioned, joined by the surrogate, to remove her name from the birth certificates; the circuit court denied the petition, finding it lacked the power to order removal and that doing so wasn't in the children's best interests, and Roberto appealed.
Whether a genetically unrelated gestational surrogate's name must remain listed as the mother on a child's birth certificate when the child otherwise has no legal mother.