## Facts

- John and Luanne Buzzanca arranged for an embryo created from donor egg and donor sperm to be implanted in a gestational surrogate who had no genetic connection to the child.
- The parties’ marriage deteriorated after fertilization and implantation, and John filed for dissolution.
- John denied any responsibility for the expected child.
- The child (“Jaycee”) was born shortly after the dissolution petition was filed.
- The gestational surrogate and her husband appeared and disclaimed any parental status.

## Issues

1. Whether intended parents who initiate and consent to gestational surrogacy using donor gametes may be declared the child’s legal parents despite lacking genetic or gestational ties.
2. Whether a court may conclude a child has “no lawful parents” when donors are anonymous, the gestational carrier disclaims parentage, and the commissioning spouses separate.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s ruling that Jaycee had no lawful parents.
- The court held that both John and Luanne are Jaycee’s lawful parents because they initiated and intended the child’s conception and birth through assisted reproduction.
- The court rejected John’s attempt to avoid parental obligations based on the absence of a genetic relationship.

## Legal Principles

- Legal parentage in assisted reproduction may be based on consent and intent to cause a child’s conception and birth, not solely on genetics or gestation.
- A consenting spouse may be treated as a legal parent even without biological ties, by analogy to doctrines recognizing parentage when a spouse consents to donor-assisted conception.
- Courts should interpret parentage statutes to avoid leaving a child without any legal parents where an identifiable set of adults caused the child to be born and intended to parent.

## Conclusion

The court determined that the commissioning spouses who agreed to and set in motion the gestational surrogacy process were Jaycee’s legal parents, ensuring the child had legally responsible parents and preventing a result in which the child would be left with none.


In re Marriage of Buzzanca, 61 Cal. App. 4th 1410 (Ct. App. 1998)