legal stranger

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>