In Re Marriage of Adams

On March 13, 1986, Ritaray Adams filed in the circuit court of Lake County a petition seeking the dissolution of her marriage to John N. Adams. In the petition Rita-ray requested support for a child, John David Adams (J.D.), born during the marriage. J.D. had been conceived through the artificial insemination of an anonymous donor’s semen. In answer to the petition John denied that he was the child’s father and, in what was termed an affirmative defense, asserted that he did not consent to the procedure that resulted in the child’s conception. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial judge…