Surrogates told to pay child support
It is understood the one-year-old surrogate baby girl is being raised by the baby’s biological father and his male partner in Queensland, who are her legal guardians. They gained child support benefits for the father to stay home and care for her, as new parents are entitled to. However, authorities asked the surrogate to contribute, which she refused to do.
Unlike in New Zealand, surrogacy is illegal in Queensland and many parts of Australia.
Australian funding agencies Centrelink and the Child Support Agency confirmed they were likely to seek maintenance payments from a birth mother in New Zealand if the Australian birth father claimed benefits as a sole parent caring for their baby.
Family law expert Professor Mark Henaghan, dean of law at Otago University, said surrogates could be forced to pay child support on either side of the Tasman if their babies were not adopted and the intended parents claimed benefits. Gay male couples were unable to adopt in New Zealand and in most of Australia, which meant the surrogate mother’s name remained on birth certificates and prevented her signing away legal rights to the child, he said. Guardianship was insufficient to remove the birth mother’s legal duties.
“You can’t contract out of child support,” Professor Henaghan said.
“It’s a blanket rule. The circumstances are irrelevant. If you are a parent, unless someone adopts a child, you are the legal parent.”
