Sb 274: the Law and Multi-parent Families

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Author: Deborah H. Wald
• Publication year: 2014
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1

SB 274: The Law and Multi-Parent Families

Deborah H. Wald

Deborah H. Wald is a family law attorney in San Francisco, CA, with over 15 years experience representing contemporary families and children. For more information please visit www.waldlaw.net or send an email to info@waldlaw.net.

On October 4, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill No. 274 into law. This bill means that, effective January 1, 2014, California's family and dependency courts have the discretion to find the children coming before them to have more than two legal parents when necessary to protect the child from detriment. As stated in the bill itself, the purpose of Senate Bill No. 274 is "to abrogate", In re M.C., 195 Cal. App. 4th 197 (2011) insofar as it held that where there are more than two people who have a claim to parentage under the Uniform Parentage Act, courts are prohibited from recognizing more than two of these people as the parents of a child, regardless of the circumstances."

In re M.C. was a sad and messy case involving a woman, her wife/domestic partner, and a man with whom she had an affair. The woman (Melissa) and her wife (Irene) were involved in a stormy on-again-off-again relationship. During an off-again period, Melissa became involved with Jesus, and got pregnant. Melissa lived with Jesus and his family for a few months of the pregnancy, during which time he supported and cared for her. However, prior to the baby's birth Melissa returned to Irene, and the baby was born into their marital home.

After Melissa and Irene broke up again, when the baby was only a few months old, Irene filed a petition in the family court asking for custody and visitation. In the meantime, Jesus had moved to Oklahoma and had no contact with the child. Melissa reacted to Irene's custody motion by convincing a new boyfriend, Jose, to attack Irene with a knife. Melissa ended up in prison as an accessory to attempted murder, and Irene ended up in the hospital with serious injuries.

The dependency court found that Melissa was the mother, Irene was the presumed mother (based on both the marital presumption and on having received the baby into her home and openly held the baby out as her own child), and Jesus was the presumed father (based on his having cared for and supported Melissa during her pregnancy). Not wanting to eliminate either Jesus or Irene from the child's life, the trial court found that all three were parents. The court of appeal expressed sympathy for what the dependency court had tried to do, but said the courts could not find a child had more than two parents without specific authorization from the Legislature — and thus Senate Bill No. 274 was born.

In November 2013, even before Senate Bill No. 274...