Court Opinion

ID: 9705694
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:16:54.881311+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:13.885021
License: Public Domain

Ciparick, J. (concurring).
Although I agree with the majority that principles of comity require the recognition of Debra H.’s parentage of M.R. because of the Vermont civil union between the parties, I write separately to set forth my view that Matter of Alison D. v Virginia M. (77 NY2d 651 [1991] should be overruled as outmoded and unworkable.
In Alison D., the dissent predicted that the impact of the decision would be felt “far beyond th[e] particular controversy” of that case, by a “wide spectrum of relationships,” including “heterosexual stepparents, ‘common-law’ and nonheterosexual partners . . . and even participants in scientific reproduction procedures” (77 NY2d at 657 [Kaye, J., dissenting]). That prediction has been borne out. In countless cases across the state, the lower courts, constrained by the harsh rule of Alison D., have been forced to either permanently sever strongly formed bonds between children and adults with whom they have parental relationships (see e.g. Matter of Janis C. v Christine T, 294 AD2d 496, 496-497 [2d Dept 2002], lv denied 99 NY2d 504 [2002]; Gulbin v Moss-Gulbin, 45 AD3d 1230, 1231 [3d Dept 2007]) or engage in deft legal maneuvering to explain away the apparent applicability of Alison D. (see e.g. Jean Maby H. v Joseph H., 246 AD2d 282, 283, 288-289 [2d Dept 1998]; Beth R. v Donna M., 19 Misc 3d 724, 734 [Sup Ct, NY County 2008]).
*607Moreover, the decision in Alison D. has been both questioned by judges (see e.g. Anonymous v Anonymous, 20 AD3d 333, 333-334 [1st Dept 2005, Ellerin and Sweeny, JJ., concurring]) and roundly criticized by legal scholars (see e.g. Schepard, Law and Children, Revisiting Alison D. Child Visitation Rights for Domestic Partners, NYLJ, June 27, 2002, at 3, col 1; Ettelbrick, Who is a Parent?: The Need to Develop a Lesbian Conscious Family Law, 10 NYL Sch J Hum Rts 513, 516-517, 522-532 [1993]).
To be sure, we are not in the practice of casting aside good legal precedent based merely on harsh results and scholarly criticism. Alison D., however, has never been good legal precedent. Rather, the majority in that case took an unwarranted hard line stance, fixing biology above all else as the key to determining parentage and thereby foreclosing any examination of a child’s best interests (see 77 NY2d at 657-658 [Kaye, J., dissenting]). As the dissent explained, the majority in Alison D. rendered an opinion that fell “hardest on the children of [nontraditional] relationships, limiting their opportunity to maintain bonds that may be crucial to their development. The majority[ ] retreat[ed] from the courts’ proper role . . . [by] tightening . . . rules that should . . . , above all, retain the capacity to take the children’s interests into account” (id. at 658).
Since Alison D., our decisions and the decisions of many of the lower courts have properly focused on the best interests of the children when determining questions of parentage, including the application of equitable estoppel to determine paternity and support obligations (see e.g. Matter of Shondel J. v Mark D., 7 NY3d 320, 324 [2006]). The majority here insists that it was appropriate to apply the doctrine of equitable estoppel in Shondel J. and consider the child’s best interests, but to apply the doctrine here would be inappropriate. The majority sees no “inconsistency in applying equitable estoppel to determine filiation for purposes of support, but not to create standing when visitation and custody are sought” (majority op at 593) because section 70 of the Domestic Relations Law makes no mention of equitable estoppel. The majority infers that economic considerations are present in paternity and child support proceedings but not custody and visitation proceedings (see id.). I disagree. Support obligations flow from parental rights; the duty to support and the rights of parentage go hand in hand and it is nonsensical to treat the two things as severable. Moreover, while it is true that *608section 70 of the Domestic Relations Law makes no mention of equitable estoppel, it is also true that the statute does not specifically define the term “parent.” Notably, as Judge Kaye observed in the Alison D. dissent, one thing the Legislature did include in the statute was its intention that the courts “shall determine solely what is for the best interest of the child, and what will best promote its welfare and happiness” (Domestic Relations Law § 70 [a]; see also Alison D., 77 NY2d at 659).
Other state courts have developed better, more flexible, multifactored approaches to determine whether a parental relationship exists, thus conferring upon a petitioner standing to seek custody or visitation. Rather than relying strictly on biology or an adoptive relationship, as Alison D. does, other tests focus on a functional examination of the relationship between the parties and the child. For example, the approach developed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is, in my opinion, properly protective of both the best interests of the children and the rights of biological and adoptive parents. Under the Wisconsin test,
“[t]o demonstrate the existence of the petitioner’s parent-like relationship with the child, the petitioner must prove four elements: (1) that the biological or adoptive parent consented to, and fostered, the petitioner’s formation and establishment of a parent-like relationship with the child; (2) that the petitioner and the child lived together in the same household; (3) that the petitioner assumed obligations of parenthood by taking significant responsibility for the child’s care, education and development, including contributing towards the child’s support, without expectation of financial compensation; and (4) that the petitioner has been in a parental role for a length of time sufficient to have established with the child a bonded, dependent relationship parental in nature” (In re Custody of H.S.H.-K., 193 Wis 2d 649, 658-659, 533 NW2d 419, 421 [1995]).
In short, I believe that, in order to demonstrate the existence of a parental relationship sufficient to confer standing under Domestic Relations Law § 70, a petitioner unrelated to a child by biology or adoption must prove that (1) the biological or adoptive parent consented to and encouraged the formation of a parental relationship; and (2) the petitioner intended to and actually did assume the typical obligations and roles associated with parenting (see Forman, Same-Sex Partners: Strangers, Third Parties, or Parents ? The Changing Legal Landscape and
*609the Struggle for Parental Equality, 40 Fam LQ 23, 49 [2006]; Ettelbrick, Who is a Parent?, 10 NYL Sch J Hum Rts at 516-517; Storrow, Parenthood by Pure Intention: Assisted Reproduction and the Functional Approach to Parentage, 53 Hastings LJ 597, 640 [2002]; see also In re Custody of H.S.H.-K., 193 Wis 2d at 658, 533 NW2d at 421; V.C. v M.J.B., 163 NJ 200, 225, 748 A2d 539, 553 [2000] [discussing formation of parental relationship as relevant to determination of parentage]), as is alleged here.
Although the majority believes that a functional approach would “trap” single biological and adoptive parents “in a limbo of doubt” (majority op at 595), I strongly disagree. In a test such as Wisconsin’s, for example, one element that must be proven is that the biological or adoptive parent consented to the formation of a parental relationship between the petitioner and the child. If a biological or adoptive parent does not consent, he or she may elect to continue raising the child on his or her own, without interference, as is a parent’s constitutional right (see Troxel v Granville, 530 US 57, 65 [2000]).
The majority claims that adopting a functional approach would “sidestep[ ]” section 70 of the Domestic Relations Law and “preempt our Legislature” by “creating] an additional category of parent” (majority op at 597). However, as noted above, section 70 of the Domestic Relations Law contains no definition of the term “parent.” In my view, it was the majority in Alison D. that “sidestepped” section 70 by refusing to give appropriate weight to the clear legislative intent, expressed in the statute, to protect the “best interests] ” and “welfare and happiness” of children.
Thus, taking into consideration the social changes that have occurred since Alison D. (see Godfrey v Spano, 13 NY3d 358, 380-381 [2009, Ciparick, J., concurring]; see also Matter of Jacob, 86 NY2d 651 [1995]) and recognizing that Supreme Court has inherent equity powers and authority pursuant to Domestic Relations Law § 70 to determine who is a parent and what will serve a child’s best interests,* I would reverse on both grounds and hold that Debra H. has standing to proceed with a hearing on the merits of her petition.

 I agree with Judge Smith’s concurrence insofar as he suggests that the presumption of legitimacy could be used to ascertain whether the same-sex partner of a biological parent is also a parent to a child born during the course of the parties’ relationship, but would extend the presumption to include biological children of same-sex male couples as well. I believe that such a *610presumption, however, would constitute only one facet of a functional approach such as the one I suggest.