TF v. BL
| Decision Date | 04 March 2004 |
| Parties | T.F. v. B.L. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Present: MARSHALL, C.J., GREANEY, IRELAND, SPINA, COWIN, SOSMAN, & CORDY, JJ.
Bennett H. Klein (Karen G. Jackson with him) for the plaintiff.
Wendy H. Sibbison for the defendant.
The following submitted briefs for amici curiae:
Paula E. Berg for Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts & others.
John J. Weltman, Robert Nichols & Susan Crockin for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association & others.
The plaintiff, T.F., and the defendant, B.L., are two women who lived together from 1996 to 2000. During this time, the plaintiff became pregnant through artificial insemination, and in July, 2000, after the couple had separated, she gave birth to a child. In January, 2001, the plaintiff filed a complaint in the Probate and Family Court Department. Based on theories of promissory estoppel and breach of an oral contract,1 she requested that the defendant be ordered to pay child support under the child support guidelines. See G. L. c. 119, § 28 (d). The judge found that there was an agreement "to create a child," which the defendant had breached. However, the judge did not issue an order of support. Instead, she reported the matter to the Appeals Court pursuant to G. L. c. 215, § 13, see Gray v. Commissioner of Revenue, 422 Mass. 666, 667 (1996), for a determination whether "parenthood by contract is the law of Massachusetts." If this question were answered in the affirmative, she opined, "then [the defendant] is a parent." We granted the plaintiff's application for direct appellate review. We conclude that while the plaintiff has established the existence of an implied agreement, "parenthood by contract" is not the law of Massachusetts and the agreement is unenforceable as against public policy. Therefore, this defendant has no obligation of child support and the Probate and Family Court cannot create such an obligation pursuant to its equity jurisdiction.
Background. We summarize the facts found by the Probate and Family Court judge, which findings were warranted by the evidence. The plaintiff and defendant met in 1995, and began living together in the fall of 1996. On May 30, 1999, the couple held a "commitment ceremony." Subsequently, they pooled their money and nominated each other as beneficiaries of their respective life insurance policies and retirement plans. The plaintiff had long wanted to have a child, and communicated her feelings to the defendant on several occasions. The first such conversation occurred as early as six months into the relationship. The defendant, who had grown up in an abusive household, doubted her own fitness to be a parent. She also had experienced psychological problems in the past, and was undergoing treatment for a recurrence of depression in the spring and summer of 1999. The defendant continued her resistance to having a child until one day in June or July of 1999, when she telephoned the plaintiff at work and told her that she had changed her mind. The plaintiff suggested they talk more about it that evening.
The couple did discuss the matter further (the 1999 conversation). They covered such topics as whether they would rather have a boy or a girl, the defendant's reasons for her change of heart, whether the defendant's brother would be a suitable sperm donor, baptism and schooling, and the division of labor between the couple, should they have a child. As a result of the 1999 conversation, the plaintiff scheduled an appointment with her doctor to discuss pregnancy. The plaintiff went to that appointment alone, but subsequently both parties attended appointments with a second doctor at a facility specializing in reproduction and fertility procedures (clinic). This doctor performed tests that disclosed that the plaintiff had a condition that would make pregnancy difficult and would require delivery by Caesarian section. The parties discussed whether the defendant could be the birth mother instead, but a degenerative disc in her back would have made pregnancy even more difficult for her. After rejecting other options such as adoption or a foster child, the parties decided to proceed with the plaintiff's artificial insemination.
On August 6, 1999, the clinic presented the couple with a document entitled "Consent Form: Therapeutic Donor Sperm Insemination."2 The parties worked together to select an anonymous donor. The couple used joint funds for insemination and prenatal care expenses. The defendant's actions during this period were at least in part an effort to preserve her relationship with the plaintiff, which she believed would have suffered had she attempted to prevent the plaintiff from having a child. The defendant told her sister and a friend that, from the time of the 1999 conversation, she "went along" with having a baby because she got "tired of the arguments" and "didn't want to take [the plaintiff's] dream away." After one unsuccessful insemination, the parties discussed how many more such procedures they could afford, and agreed to go forward with a further attempt. In December, 1999, the plaintiff became pregnant as the result of the second insemination.
The parties' relationship deteriorated in the following months, and the defendant moved out of their apartment in May, 2000. Prior to leaving, the defendant expressed her regrets about being a "separated parent," said she desired to adopt the child, and "promised financial support and promised to talk later about the details since she wanted to just focus on the break-up of the relationship at that time." On July 1, 2000, the plaintiff went into premature labor and gave birth to a boy.
We recite the facts following the conception and birth of the child as they may be relevant to the parties' contractual intent. See Martino v. First Nat'l Bank, 361 Mass. 325, 332 (1972), quoting Pittsfield & N. Adams R.R. v. Boston & Albany R.R., 260 Mass. 390, 398 (1927) (). The defendant visited the mother and child in the hospital several times, participated in selecting his name, and promised to provide support and to change her work hours to help raise him. During one of these visits, the defendant gave the plaintiff $800. On July 26, 2000, the defendant sent pictures of herself with the child, via the Internet, to friends accompanied by the message: "I hope you all enjoy the pics of my wonderful, beautiful boy." In October, 2000, the parties argued for over an hour about support for the child, who, as the result of his premature birth, required a great deal of medical attention. The plaintiff had been parenting the child and working full time, and wanted financial assistance from the defendant. The defendant "acknowledged that she was not paying child support because she was angry at [the plaintiff]." Later that month, the defendant sent a letter to the plaintiff, declaring that she desired no further contact with the plaintiff or the child.
The judge found that there was no written agreement between the parties regarding having a child together, that the defendant is not biologically related to the child, and that she has never lived with him. The judge found further that the defendant's name does not appear on the birth certificate, that she did not adopt the child, and that she has made no financial contributions for the benefit of the child, except the payment of $800 to the plaintiff shortly after the baby was born.
Analyzing the facts, the judge concluded that there was no evidence of an explicit oral promise by the defendant, except to "explore the possibility of having a child." However, the judge concluded that this promise, because of the defendant's subsequent behavior and failure to "stop or slow down" the plaintiff's pregnancy, "grew naturally and actively into the creation of a child," and thus the creation of a binding contract between the parties. The defendant breached this contract, the judge continued, by refusing to perform the obligations of parenthood (i.e., to provide child support).
Analysis. The plaintiff's argument for imposing a child support obligation on the defendant is essentially two pronged. First, she claims that the defendant entered into an enforceable implied contract with her to coparent a child, or at least that she impliedly promised to support the child, and is now estopped from denying that support. The defendant's refusal to pay child support, the argument goes, is therefore a breach of contract. Second, the plaintiff asserts that an order of child support in the present situation would be consistent with oft-expressed legislative policies as manifested in related statutes, and that the "broad and flexible" equity powers of the Probate and Family Court can and should be invoked to implement said polices. We discuss these arguments in turn.
a. "Parenthood by contract." The plaintiff does not contend that there was any express written agreement between the parties,3 but rather that the defendant's initial statement, in the summer of 1999, that she wished to discuss having a child, followed by her course of conduct, reflect an implied contract to create a child. In the absence of an express agreement, an implied contract may be inferred from (1) the conduct of the parties and (2) the relationship of the parties. See W.A. Snow Iron Works, Inc. v. Chadwick, 227 Mass. 382, 390 (1917); LiDonni, Inc. v. Hart, 355 Mass. 580, 583 (1969). See also Grant v. Carlisle, 328 Mass. 25, 29 (1951). An implied contract requires proof that there was a benefit to the defendant, that the plaintiff expected the defendant to pay for that benefit, and that the defendant expected, or a reasonable person should have expected, that he or she would have to pay for that benefit.4LiDonni, Inc. v. Hart, supra at 583. When the defendant was, or should have been, aware of the...
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