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PATERNITY PETITION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED ON EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL GROUNDS IN THIS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION CASE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Family Court, determined the paternity petition should have been dismissed on equitable estoppel grounds. Petitioner provided semen for the artificial insemination of mother, who is married to her same sex partner. The artificial insemination was not done by a doctor in accordance with Domestic Relations Law 73, so the statutory presumption of legitimacy did not apply. The parties agreed in a “Three-Party Donor Contract” that the petitioner would not have parental rights or responsibilities:

… [I]t is undisputed that all of the parties intended that the petitioner would not be a parent to the child, even if they did contemplate some amount of contact after birth. The petitioner was not present at the child’s birth, and was not named on her birth certificate. Despite the fact that he was undeniably aware of the child’s birth and his possible claim to paternity, the petitioner waited more than three years to assert his claim of parentage. During that time, the child has lived with and been cared for exclusively by the respondents, each of whom has developed a loving parental relationship with her. Although the petitioner asserts that he has had some contact with the child, he does not claim that he has developed a parental relationship with the child or that she recognizes him as a father. Significantly, the petitioner acknowledges that he does not actually seek a parental role, only that he wants a legal right to visitation with the child. Under these circumstances, we find that a hearing was unnecessary, and it is in the child’s best interests to dismiss the paternity petition on the ground of equitable estoppel …  Under the particular circumstances presented here, it would be unjust and inequitable to disrupt the child’s close parental relationship with each of the respondents and permit the petitioner take a parental role when he has knowingly acquiesced in the development of a close relationship between the child and another parent figure … . Matter of Joseph O. v Danielle B., 2018 NY Slip Op 01192, Second Dept 2-21-18

FAMILY LAW (PATERNITY PETITION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED ON EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL GROUNDS IN THIS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION CASE (SECOND DEPT))/ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION (FAMILY LAW, PATERNITY PETITION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED ON EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL GROUNDS IN THIS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION CASE (SECOND DEPT))/PATERNITY (ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION, (PATERNITY PETITION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED ON EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL GROUNDS IN THIS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION CASE (SECOND DEPT))/EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL (FAMILY LAW, PATERNITY PETITION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED ON EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL GROUNDS IN THIS ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION CASE (SECOND DEPT))

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