A one-time lesbian couple will have shared custody of the child they had together and raised before splitting up, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Jan. 21.

The high court in Frankfort approved the couple's joint custody agreement and ruled that one of the women, Arminta Jane Mullins, acted as a "de facto parent" with her partner, Phyllis Dianne Picklesimer. ...

Picklesimer gave birth to the boy in 2005. The couple filed a joint custody agreement in February 2006 in Garrard County and split up two months later. Picklesimer denied Mullins contact with the boy that September, prompting Mullins to go to court to see the child.

Justice Wil Schroeder wrote for the court's majority that the women made multiple decisions about the child before and after he was born, with Mullins caring for the boy while the couple was together and for five months after they split.

"This would distinguish the nonparent acting as a parent to the child from a grandparent, a baby sitter, or a boyfriend or girlfriend of the parent, who watched the child for the parent, but who was never intended by the parent to be doing so in the same capacity of another parent," Schroeder wrote. ...

Eighteen states recognize "de facto parents" over the objections of fit biological parents: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Labels: de facto parenting, Kentucky

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