Lesbian Couple Settles Custody Battle
Posted By Claery & Green on Mar 17, 2010 11:05am PDT
A lesbian couple from Santa Cruz has agreed to settle their paternity suit regarding their twin sons.
The case centers around Kim T. Smith and Maggie Quale, who were joined in a committment ceremony in 2008 but never
registered as domestic partners. In 2009, Quale gave birth to twin boys conceived through artificial insemination. Smith never formally adopted the boys, but she and Quale agreed to raise the children together, and both Quale’s and Smith’s names are on the twins’ birth certificates. In addition, the boys have the hyphenated last name Smith-Quale.
Five months after the twins were born, Smith and Quale ended their relationship. Quale and Smith’s situation became complicated when, not long after they split, Quale became romantically involved with the sperm donor, Shawn Wallace.
Smith originally filed a lawsuit against Quale last September to maintain her parental rights of the twins. The settlement Quale and Smith finally agreed to recognizes both women as the boy’s legal parents. It’s not clear whether Wallace was granted any paternity rights as part of the settlement.
What to Learn From This?
If you are involved in a gay or lesbian relationship and you and your partner have decided to raise children together, it is important to take the appropriate steps to ensure your parental rights are protected. Certain things can be done to ensure that you will not lose visitation, custody, or legal rights to the child if the relationship ends. You can legally
adopt the child, you can draft a legal document that declares you the child’s legal parent, or you can create a domestic partnership or
cohabitation agreement that outlines how you and your partner would like
child custody and visitation to be arranged should you split up in the future.
If you have children, nothing is more important than protecting yourself and your rights. Whether you are the non-biological parent or the biological parent, a
Los Angeles domestic partnership attorney at Claery & Green can help you take the necessary steps to protect both your legal and parental rights. To learn more about our services, please call
(877) 756-4111 today!