New York Holds That an Homosexual Partner Has Standing to Assert Parental Rights of Timesharing and May Be Held to Parental Obligations Such as Support | Janet Langjahr's Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law

New York may not recognize homosexual marriages or civil unions.

But New York’s highest court now recognizes a former homosexual partner’s standing to seek timesharing with a child born during the relationship.

New York surveyed the law developing in other states in carving out a narrow exception to the usual requirement of biological ties or legal adoption in order to assert custody or timesharing rights.

The legal standard to be applied will be whether it is in the child’s best interests.

New York’s Court of Appeals also now recognizes that a former homosexual partner may have an obligation to pay child support to the other parent of a child born during the relationship.

A court must determine that the paying spouse is a legal parent before it can order child support payments.