Lesbian Pays No Child Maintenance

London's High Court today ruled that a lesbian whose partner had a child through insemination cannot be held financially responsible for it.    

Mr Justice Moylan said the pair,   who had not  entered into a civil partnership, which would've afforded greater legal protection,  said the former partner could not be fully defined as a "parent" under current British law.

He said the woman, identified only as B, was a ''social and psychological'' parent of the child born in 2000, but not a legal one, according to UK newspaper, The Telegraph.

''I have come to the clear conclusion that those against whom orders can be made, are confined to those who are a parent in the legal meaning of that word," he said.

''This might appear a persuasive point save for the fact that the mere obtaining of parental responsibility is clearly not intended to make someone a legal parent when they would not otherwise be such.


''In some respects the outcome in this case may seem objectively surprising. However, in my view it is for the legislature to determine who should be financially responsible for children if it is to extend beyond those who are legal parents.  'If I were to extend the definition to include anyone who has acted as a parent, I do not see how I could properly define the limits of such an extended definition in a way which would provide sufficient legal certainty.''









© 2010 Copyright Jason Shaw