J.F. v. D.B.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
897 A.2d 1261 (Pa. Super. 2006)
J.F. (plaintiff) and his partner E.D., unable to conceive on their own, arranged for an egg donor to provide genetic material combined with J.F.'s own material, which was implanted in gestational carrier D.B. (defendant); D.B. agreed in advance to relinquish custody of the resulting triplets to J.F. and E.D. after birth. The triplets were born prematurely and required extended NICU care; when J.F. and E.D. returned to Ohio during that treatment, D.B. grew upset at their limited in-person visits, revoked her consent to their access, took the triplets home upon discharge, and stopped answering their calls. J.F. filed for custody and emergency relief, and after hearings the trial court struck down the surrogacy agreement, granted D.B. standing both in loco parentis and as the triplets' legal mother, and awarded her primary physical custody with only partial custody and visitation to J.F., who appealed.
Whether a surrogate carrier with no biological tie to an unborn child is a third party who lacks standing to seek custody of the child against the natural parents unless a prima facie right to custody can be shown.