On April 19th the Kansas Court of Appeals issued a landmark decision under the Kansas Parentage Act as it applies to same-sex relationships. In Case No. 119,536, Adam Hall and Sarah Warner successfully represented Thompson Warner’s client in a matter involving both statutory and constitutional claims about joint custody of children. In this instance, the person seeking custody was not part of the efforts to become pregnant, was not married to the mother, had not made any attempt to adopt the children, and had not entered into any written co-parenting plan.
The appellate court affirmed the district court’s decision that the petitioner was not the children’s “parent” and thus was not entitled to custody or other rights reserved to parents. Congratulations to our client on successfully defending her parental rights, and to Adam and Sarah on this appellate victory in an important area of law.
If you have any questions about this case, or how you can ensure that your parental rights can be defended or recognized in light of this decision, our attorneys can step you through that process under Kansas Parentage Act and related case law.