Los Angeles Attorney Wins Pivotal Child Custody Ruling in California
In one of the first rulings analyzing the amended (California) Family Code §7612 which allows a child to have more than two parents, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the firm’s client who is the biological father, against the mother’s former live in boyfriend, who claimed to be the child’s third parent.
Following a family law hearing which lasted seven days, the court ruled a child parent relationship did not exist between the minor child and the mother’s former live in boyfriend, thus establishing that it was not detrimental to the child to fail to recognize the former boyfriend.as her parent.
Los Angeles divorce attorney, Charles M. Green who represented the biological father, stated: “We are pleased that the judge rejected the ex-boyfriend’s parentage claim. A contrary ruling would invite every boyfriend, fiancé or housemate to bring suit for custody. Every single mother who has a boyfriend or is involved with a man who is not the biological father of her child would be at risk of being sued with a paternity action. This would open the floodgates of litigation and put the rights of biological parents at risk.”
During the course of the child custody proceedings which began in 2015, the California appeals court issued three decisions discussing the new law enacted in January 2014: In re Donovan L 244 Cal.App.4th 1075 (02/11/2016), Martinez v. Vaziri, 246 Cal.App.4th 373 (04/08/2016) In re SZ (04/14/2016).
These cases stand for the proposition that the most important factor is whether there is an existing parent-child relationship between the child and the putative third parent, such that “recognizing only two parents would be detrimental to the child.” (Family Code § 7612, (c)
It is anticipated that there will be much more three parent litigation as the public becomes familiar with Family Code §7612 and how it can potentially be used to establish a legal relationship with children who have two parents.
Divorce attorney Charles M. Green has a BBA in Management from Hofstra University and MBA in Accountancy from the City University of New York. He is an inactive licensed CPA in both the States of California and New York.
Following his graduation from Southwestern School of Law in Los Angeles, California, he was admitted to practice law in 1999. In 2008, Mr. Green became a Certified Specialist in Family Law by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. He is also a member for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Wilshire Bar Association and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
