Matter of Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C.; Matter of Estrellita A. v. Jennifer L.D.

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals overruled Matter of Alison D. v. Virginia M. and held that a non-biological, non-adoptive partner may have standing to seek custody or visitation under Domestic Relations Law § 70. Standing exists when the partner proves by clear and convincing evidence that the parties agreed to conceive and raise the child together. The decision consolidated Matter of Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C. and Matter of Estrellita A. v. Jennifer L.D.

Holdings

1. Matter of Alison D. v. Virginia M. is overruled because its restrictive biological-or-adoptive-parent rule has become unworkable, inconsistent with later legal developments, and inequitable in its treatment of nontraditional families.
2. A person who is not a biological or adoptive parent may establish standing to seek custody or visitation under Domestic Relations Law § 70(a) by proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that the person and the biological parent agreed before conception to conceive and raise the child as co-parents.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a nonbiological, nonadoptive former partner who agreed with the biological parent before conception to conceive and raise a child together may establish standing as a parent to seek custody or visitation under Domestic Relations Law § 70(a).
2. Whether Matter of Alison D. v. Virginia M. should be overruled.
3. Whether judicial estoppel barred the biological parent in Estrellita A. from denying that the petitioner was a parent after obtaining a child-support order based on the contrary position.