Manhattan Appeals Court Revives Kelly Gunn’s Custody Lawsuit Against Circe Hamilton

A five-judge panel of the New York State Appellate Division, First Department, based in Manhattan, has revived a lawsuit by Kelly Gunn, who is seeking joint custody of a child adopted by her former partner, Circe Hamilton. New York Supreme Court Justice Frank Nervo had dismissed the lawsuit on April 13, 2017, finding that despite her close relationship with the child, Gunn was not a “parent” under New York’s Domestic Relations Law, so lacked “standing” … <Read More>


NY Family Court Judge Takes Co-Parent Rights a Step Further in Filiation Case

Rockland County Family Court Judge Rachel E. Tanguay, ruling on a question of first impression under New York Law, decided that when a lesbian couple had children together and raised them together as a family for several years before splitting up, the co-parent was entitled to an Order of Filiation recognizing her parental status for all purposes. Judge Tanguay’s ruling in A.F. v. K.H., 2017 N.Y. Slip Op. 27196, 2017 WL 2541877 (Fam. Ct., Rockland … <Read More>


Manhattan Court Finds Former Same-Sex Partner of Adoptive Mother Lacks Standing to Contest Custody of the Child

Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Frank P. Nervo ruled on April 11 that the former same-sex partner of a woman who adopted a child from Africa after the women’s relationship had ended could not maintain a lawsuit seeking custody and visitation with the child based on the relationship that she developed with the child after the adoption took place.  K. v. C., 2017 WL 1356080, 2017 NY Misc LEXIS 1624 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Co.).  … <Read More>


New York Court of Appeals Overrules Alison D., Sets New Test for Co-Parent Standing

The New York Court of Appeals has overruled a quarter-century-old precedent, establishing a new rule for determining when somebody who is neither a biological nor an adoptive parent can seeking custody of a child. The opinion for the court by Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam in Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A. C.C., 2016 N.Y. LEXIS 2668, 2016 Westlaw 4507780 (August 30, 2016), provides that “where a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties … <Read More>


N.Y. Appellate Division Approves Comity for California Parentage Rights of Lesbian Co-Parent

The New York Appellate Division, Second Department, an intermediate appellate court based in Brooklyn, issued a unanimous ruling on April 6 affirming a decision by Suffolk County Family Court Judge Deborah Poulos recognizing the parental status of a lesbian co-parent, now resident in Arizona, who is seeking visitation with two children who were conceived through donor insemination while she was legally partnered with their birth mother, first as a California domestic partner and then as … <Read More>


N.Y. 4th Department Rejects Custody & Visitation Petition From Same-Sex Co-Parent

Relying on a quarter-century old N.Y. Court of Appeals precedent under which a same-sex co-parent is considered a “legal stranger” to the child she was raising with her former partner, the Appellate Division, 4th Department has affirmed a decision by Chautauqua County Family Court Judge Judith S. Claire to dismiss a petition for custody and visitation filed by Brooke S. Barone.  The ruling in Barone v. Chapman, 2015 N.Y. App. Div. LEIS 5226, 2015 WL … <Read More>


New York Appellate Division Finds Lesbian Birth Mother “Judicially Estopped” From Denying Former Partner’s Parental Status

A unanimous panel of the N.Y. Appellate Division, 2nd Department, ruled on December 24 that a birth mother who successfully sued her former same-sex partner for child support was “judicially estopped” from arguing that the partner lacked standing to seek visitation rights with the child.  Arriaga v. Dukoff, 2014 WL 7332764.

Estrellita Arriaga and Jennifer Dukoff lived together in a romantic relationship beginning in December 2003 and registered as domestic partners in New York … <Read More>


New York Lesbian Co-Parent Custody Claim Precluded under 12-Year-Old Decision

The evil that courts do lives on…  On October 4, 2013, the New York Law Journal published Rockland County Family Court Referee Dean Richardson-Mendelson’s opinion in Matter of A.F. v. K.H., V-00918-13, rejecting all attempts by a lesbian co-parent to obtain judicial relief against her former partner’s action of excluding her from contact with the children they had been raising together.  The principal barrier to her case is the N.Y. Court of Appeal’s old decision, … <Read More>