3 replies to this topic

[mnmulfers]

So my sister is in a registered domestic partnership in California but she is currently pregnant and in a relationship with her unborn child's father as well but she is wanting to get child support from her domestic partner for this child. Can a child have 3 parents who are legally and financially obligated to him/her. The father wants to be on the birth certificate and have parental rights and obligations to his child but my sister wants financial support from her other partner as well but she wants full custody with no visitation. I've been through the custody/child support thing with my husband when he got custody of his daughter but i'm not sure if the same rules apply in a same sex relationship

[Ted_from_Texas]

Whether she's in a registered domestic partnership is irrelevant. Outside a valid adoption process, one doesn't get to choose the parent of one's child willy-nilly. If she were married and having an extramarital affair the final result would be the same. Upon a legal determination of paternity the biological father will be held responsible for child support and will be awarded all appropriate parental rights.

[pg1067]

So my sister is in a registered domestic partnership in California but she is currently pregnant and in a relationship with her unborn child's father as well but she is wanting to get child support from her domestic partner for this child.

What would possess her to think that might be possible?

Can a child have 3 parents who are legally and financially obligated to him/her.

No.

The father wants to be on the birth certificate and have parental rights and obligations to his child but my sister wants financial support from her other partner as well but she wants full custody with no visitation.

Your sister sounds quite greedy and self-centered. Heck, why not try and get a few other folks without any connection to the child on the hook for support?

I've been through the custody/child support thing with my husband when he got custody of his daughter but i'm not sure if the same rules apply in a same sex relationship

Some of them do, but not here. In a "normal" marriage, there is a legal presumption that a child born to a woman who was cohabitating with her husband at the time of conception is a child of the marriage. However, it is rather obviously impossible for two women to conceive a child, so that presumption wouldn't apply. Accordingly, until such time as paternity is established, in the eyes of the law, your sister's child will have no father. If your sister's partner were to adopt the child, then she would have all of the same parental rights as your sister. However, since the alleged father wants to be part of the child's life, an adoption obviously can't happen.

[FindLaw_AHK]

To learn more about child support, you may wish to visit the Family Law Center and read Child Support as a good resource.