Court Opinion

ID: 9728923
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:19:07.463589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:53.061290
License: Public Domain

FERREN, Associate Judge,
concurring:
Because of the potential for fraud, I continue to believe that, absent a formal procedural determination of paternity, someone who claims to be a child of an intestate decedent, born out of wedlock, cannot establish that relationship by a preponderance of the evidence without “demonstrat[ing] that *221the deceased, during his lifetime, openly, notoriously, and unambiguously acknowledged the child as his own.” In re Estate of Glover, 470 A.2d 743, 751 (D.C.1983) (Ferren, J., concurring); see ante note 17. Thus, I agree with reversal and am skeptical, to say the least, that appellees can prevail. I suppose that, contrary to my “bright line” views about such cases expressed in Glover, someone could posit facts where a claimant could establish paternity, after the father’s death, even though the putative father had not openly acknowledged fatherhood during his lifetime. But, in this case, where the trial judge found that George Cooper’s mother, Pearl Cooper, raised Mignon Cooper as her daughter, not as her granddaughter, and where there is no proffered reason (pertaining to Kathleen Hayes or otherwise) as to why George Cooper would not have acknowledged paternity of Mignon Cooper during his lifetime — if it were true — I see no basis for the trial court to find that Mignon Cooper was George Cooper’s daughter.