The Oklahoma Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a woman who spent ten years raising a child with her former same-sex partner can use the equitable doctrine of “in loco parentis” to achieve standing to sue for custody or visitation of the child. Ramey v. Sutton, 2015 OK 79. The November 17 opinion, written by Justice Joseph M. Watt, drew on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 26, 2015, marriage equality decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, … <Read More>
Eldredge v. Taylor
Lesbian Co-Parent Has Standing to Enforce Co-Parenting Agreement in Oklahoma
Oklahoma now has same-sex marriage, courtesy of the federal courts, so perhaps the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s historic ruling on November 12 in Eldredge v. Taylor, 2014 OK 92, will have only transient significance, but it is nonetheless noteworthy, if only because of the court’s somewhat unusual ruling that a written co-parenting agreement between cohabiting partners can give a non-biological parent standing to seek a declaration of her parental rights after her relationship with the birth … <Read More>