Florida Appeals Successfully Reversed a Final Order

Florida Appeals successfully reversed a final order dismissing the Appellant father’s Petition to Establish Paternity based on Florida’s Assisted Reproductive Technology Statute, Florida Statutes, sections 742.13 and 742.14 (2021). The 5th DCA agreed that the statutory definitions of section 742.13 must be read in pari materia with section 742.14 and chapter 724. Because the parties achieved artificial insemination at home without the use of assisted reproductive technology, the father was not a “donor” in the context of chapter 742, and section 742.14 did not apply. The impact of this result was life-changing for the father and his child because a result of the decision, the father/daughter relationship was restored, and the father’s timesharing began once again.