Publications

May 6, 2010

Client Advisory: Debra H. v. Janice R.

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The New York Court of Appeals issued an important ruling earlier this week concerning the rights of same-sex parents, effectively bringing New York State one step closer to recognizing the equality of LGBT families. While reaffirming a line of precedents holding that, absent a second-parent adoption, a non-biological parent does not have standing to seek custody or visitation, the Court of Appeals nevertheless upheld the parental rights of a lesbian mother on the ground that the couple had entered into a Vermont civil union and that comity principles required the application of Vermont law, which provides that both women are the legal parents of the child. Given the Court's explicit reliance on the legal validity in New York of a Vermont civil union, and although there is no current right for same-sex couples to get married in New York, the Court's ruling could have much broader significance for the recognition of the out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples living in New York State.