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St. Mary v. Damon

Supreme Court of Nevada

309 P.3d 1027 (2013)

Relevant factsFree

Sha'Kayla St. Mary (plaintiff) carried a child conceived using Veronica Damon's (defendant) egg and donor sperm, and the two women, then a couple, signed a co-parenting agreement stating they'd share parenting responsibilities equally. After the couple separated, St. Mary signed an affidavit acknowledging Damon as the child's biological mother, and a court later added Damon to the birth certificate as biological and legal mother while also acknowledging St. Mary gave birth. In a subsequent custody suit, the trial court granted St. Mary only third-party visitation, no parental rights, and found the co-parenting agreement void because Nevada surrogacy law at the time covered only married male-female couples; St. Mary appealed.

IssueFree

Whether some jurisdictions recognize that a child conceived with one woman's egg, but carried by her partner, may have two legal mothers entitled to parental rights.

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