Shawnee County judge: Topeka sperm donor William Marotta not legally child’s father
Marotta will not be required to pay child support
Posted November 28, 2016
By Luke Ranker
THE TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL
William Marotta provided sperm to a same-sex couple who posted a Craigslist ad, but he isn’t legally the child’s father, a Shawnee County District Court Judge ruled.
Marotta and the state of Kansas have been at legal odds for more than four years. The Kansas Department for Families and Children has sought since 2012 to have Marotta declared the father so he can be forced to pay child support. Meanwhile, Marotta, through attorney Charles Baylor, has long contended that he never intended to be the child’s father. District Court Judge Mary Mattivi declared last week that both women, now separated, are obligated to support the child, not Marotta.
“It’s a great victory for Mr. Marotta,” Baylor said. “We’re very gratified by the decision.”
The state wanted to hold Marotta responsible for $1,625.92 plus ongoing child support, according to court documents if the court ruled him the legal parent.
Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner in 2009 posted a $50 ad for a sperm donor to help them conceive a child on Craigslist. Marotta stepped forward and signed a contract waiving his parenting responsibilities. Bauer and Schreiner split up in December 2010, and in October 2012, DCF filed a child support claim against Marotta to care for the girl, The Topeka Capital-Journal previously reported.
The women decided to inseminate Schreiner at their home, Bauer previously told The Capital-Journal, partly because of their previous awkward encounter with the doctor, but primarily because they wanted the act to be more personal.
Mattivi repeatedly cited the lack of professional services used in the insemination.
“Inexplicably, they neither consulted a lawyer nor utilized the services of a medical clinic,” the judge wrote.
Julie Avard, a friend of Marotta’s, told The Capital-Journal he never took payment from the couple.
Last year, genetic testing showed a 99.9 percent probability Marotta is the child’s biological father, but in her ruling Mattivi provided 10 reasons why he should not be considered the legal father. Among them, she pointed to an ongoing relationship between Bauer and the child, which Bauer wishes to continue. Apart from two meetings over the past five years, Marotta has had no relationship with the child and does not intend to provide emotional or financial support.
“A negative result regarding (Marotta) might leave (the child) without a financially solvent parent, but it would not leave (the child) without a legal parent,” Mattivi’s decision states.
Bauer is unable to work but receives disability benefits, according to court documents.
Marotta also doesn’t have children of his own that could be considered siblings, Mattivi noted.
Caregivers in the future may inform the child about her biological father, the judge wrote, but the child is not yet read.
Informing the child now about Marotta could “lead to confusion and possible more negative side effects,” said the child’s guardian ad litem, a court appointed representative for the child, according to Mattivi’s decision.
Avard said Marotta has more than four years worth of legal bills to pay. A Go Fund Me page has been establish for anyone who wants to help with Marotta’s legal expenses: http://www.gofundme.com/kstramplesrights. By Wednesday it had raised $2,425 towards a goal of $10,000.