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Paternity

Home / A single female friend of mine is desperate to have a baby and has begged me to help her get pregnant. She said she promises not to say I’m the father or to sue me for financial support for the baby. Is this legal or would I be at risk of having to support the child ?

A single female friend of mine is desperate to have a baby and has begged me to help her get pregnant. She said she promises not to say I’m the father or to sue me for financial support for the baby. Is this legal or would I be at risk of having to support the child ?

By: דיאנה שאלתיאלPublished on: 03 May, 2022
Such an agreement, whether oral or in writing, would be worthless, and you would clearly be at risk of being filed with a paternity suit and having to support the child. Any promise to free you of all responsibility of paternity or maintenance if you “help” her become a mother has no legal value. Such an agreement would not be “in the child’s good”, runs counter to a child’s rights and is against the public interest. It denies the child its natural right to know who its father is, develop a relationship with him and to be supported by him financially. It  would not be considered valid by a court and would not be upheld by one should you be filed for paternity.
Apart from the special position of a sperm bank donor, a man who gets a woman pregnant has to accept responsibility, even if he is asked to “help” her become a mother.
It makes no difference if there is sexual intercourse or not. The family court in Jerusalem held that a man who masturbated into a container to “help” a friend get pregnant had to pay maintenance to the twins born from his sperm, even though he alleged there was an oral agreement to free him of any responsibility.

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