Walk It Through: The Baby And The Visits
A couple who never married, an acknowledgment of parentage, and a grandmother who raised the child for a while.
A couple has lived together for years and has a baby. They never had a wedding.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One family over several years. Registered domestic partnerships, the marital presumption, the amended parentage sections taking effect later, and custody and support are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Child-parent relationshipOne of two relationships that let a person who is not a legal parent seek relief. It has to have existed within the six months before filing, and with it the presumption that the legal parent acts in the child's best interest is rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence.
- Clear and convincing evidenceThe standard a court applies before appointing a guardian, and the one a forfeiting agency meets to forfeit real property.
- Ongoing personal relationshipA relationship with a child with substantial continuity for at least one year. With it, the presumption that the legal parent acts in the child's best interest has to be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, for visitation or contact.
- Preponderance of the evidenceThe standard a forfeiting agency meets to forfeit personal property. Real property takes clear and convincing evidence.
- Marital presumptionThe rule that a person married to the parent who gave birth at the time of the birth is presumed to be the child's parent, and so is a former spouse if the child is born within 300 days after the marriage ended, unless the child was conceived under a gestational surrogacy agreement.
- Voluntary acknowledgment of parentageA form the parent who gave birth and the child's alleged genetic parent file with the State Registrar. Once effective and not rescinded or set aside, it is equivalent to a court's adjudication of parentage.
- SolemnizationThe declaration two people make, in the presence of a person or organization authorized to solemnize marriages and at least two witnesses, that they take each other to be spouses, which completes a marriage entered into as a civil contract.