In Re: C.K.G., C.A.G., C.L.G.

Unmarried couple in their forties decide to have children. Due to the woman's concern that she may be too old to produce viable eggs, the couple engaged the services of an in vitro fertilization clinic and signed contracts required by the clinic, following which the clinic obtained eggs from an anonymous female donor, which were fertilized with the man's sperm and then implanted in the woman who carried them full term resulting in the birth of triplets. Thereafter, the couple separated and the woman filed for custody. The man answered and asserted that the woman is not the mother or a legal parent of the children because she was merely a gestational surrogate who has no genetic tie to the children. The man further asserted that the children have no mother because the egg donor waived her parental rights. The trial court held that the woman is the mother of the children, awarded joint custody to the couple and primary custody to the woman. The man appealed. We affirm, finding that the woman is a legal parent and the mother of the children based on the intent of the parties.