Being one of the leading Southern California Child Support Law Firms, we handle dozens of child support cases every year. We can honestly say that we have never seen anything like this before though. A Massachusetts appeals court has ruled that a man must pay child support for twins that were conceived through in vitro fertilization more than a year after he and his wife separated.
Chukwudera Okoli is a Nigerian immigrant who had been trying to have a child with his wife unsuccessfully for several years. Okoli and his then wife decided to try a fertilization clinic and were put on a waiting list for donor eggs after Okoli had donated his sperm.
The couple separated in 2000, donor eggs became available more than a year later, and Okoli consented to allow his estranged wife to begin the fertilization process. The twins were born in May of 2003.
Okoli claims that he gave his consent under duress, saying his estranged wife threatened to interfere with his immigration status if he didn’t agree to the fertilization. The highest court in Massachusetts wasn’t buying Okoli’s arguments and has said that he is responsible for child support as the legal biological father of the twins.
This ruling could have an effect on cases as far as here in California. If a court orders one parent to pay child support, they are obligated to pay child support until the child turns 18 and graduates high school. Meaning if a child turns 18 while still in high school, the parent must continue to pay child support until they finish school.
The key factor in this case was the fact that Okoli consented to the fertilization process after the couple had already separated. But this ruling potentially opens the door for a slew of child support cases involving two parents who have separated but conceived through artificial means after the fact.
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