Monday, an appeal court upheld a lower court’s decision that previously decided that Sherri Shepherd cannot remove her name from 1-year old LJ’s birth certificate, PEOPLE reported.
LJ is a product of a surrogate pregnancy in 2013 that started before The View cohost and her now ex-husband Lamar Sally split.
Surrogate carrier Jessica Bartholomew was still pregnant at the time.
Since the baby’s birth Shepherd has been trying to fight being parentally responsible for the offspring.
The two entered a settlement regarding payment of child support which is ongoing. In April, a Pennsylvania judge ordered the support and ruled that Shepherd is legally the baby’s mom.
But Shepherd appealed a trial court ruling denying her from removing her name from his birth certificate.
Her name was originally not included because she was not present at the birth, and refused to acknowledge she was the mother, resulting in litigation, Melissa Brisman, owner of the New Jersey-based Reproductive Possibilities, previously told PEOPLE.
Shepherd told the magazine in August that the only reason she agreed to the surrogacy is because she feared Sally wild leave her if she didn’t.
