A party may still obtain custody of a child or visitation with a child that he/she is not biologically related to if that party qualifies as a “Presumed Parent ” under California Family Code section 7611. This code section requires that the party seeking presumed parent status (1) has taken the child into his/her home and (2) openly held the child out has his/her own.
To satisy the first requirement, the party seeking presumed parent status must have physically taken the child into his home. There is no hard and fast rule (known as a “bright line rule” in law) on how many times the child was in the party’s home or for what length of time. Each determination will be made by the court on a case by case basis.
However, the court will take into consideration whether the party’s efforts to take the child into his/her home were thwarted by the other parent. In one example, the court awarded a man presumed parent status where he attempted several times to bring the child into his home, but the mother always refused his requests.
To satisfy the second requirement, a party must openly hold the child out as his/her own. For example, sending out birth announcements, referring to the child as “son” or “daughter” to others, and including the child in a will or other estate planning documents.
The determination of presumed parent is very fact intensive so be prepared to provide detailed evidence to the court.
3 Comments
my daughter had a child out of wedlock.,thought he was father.married him 9 months later.their in ugly divorce.he has temporary custody.dna proves he is not father.judge will not return child immediately.hes trying to adopt baby right out from under his blood family.what is wrong with this judge?she is allowing him to keep baby until court date july 9th.weve been trying to get baby back since early june.help…im afraid of this judge.
my boyfriend is tring to see is little girl and he is not the biological dad . cause his ex-wife will not let him see her since he has been with me . now the biological father dose pay child-support but my boyfriend has supported he since day one . he was the first person to hold her when she was born . what can he do do see her ? please help he loves her so much and wants to see her so bad .
Ok I have been raising my niece and nephew ,,,grl 13 boy 4 1/2……my brother has custody of the two,, but they have resided with me for the past 4 yrs… either parent has not given me any kind of child support what soever…….I have cared for them just as my own. the mother has not had hardly anything to do with them in the 4 yrs that I have had them.the father has been in and out..approx 8 mo ago the father was sent to prison once he was sent to prison this past christmas eve she came to my house demanding that i give her kids back she said that because the father was in prison that the custody reverted back to her.Leaving no choice but to hand over the kids with their bags packed I have no legal rights to these kids.After having the kids for about a month her boyfriend was very abusive to her and the kids.The cops and DHS was in and out every week.I knew this guy’s abusive ways prior to handing over the kids the system would not listen to me. They said, a child has to get hurt before anything is done.My nephew cried every day pleading to go home all he knew was me he wasn’t used to his mom…After a month she handed the kids back over to me..everytime my nephew went to her house for visitation he would cling to me and the car doors screaming with fear but i had no choice .That same weekend the BF threw him on the bed with his hands around his throat telling my nephew over and over that he was gonna kill him. The mother was hiding in the bathroom calling the cops..Nothing was ever done about it,,,I just don’t understand what is wrong with the system ,,I would love to get custody of these kids but I’m so scared that i will lose against her and I will never see the kids again but i feel that i have a good case it’s just that the system doesn’t really care.and they are crooked here..my nephew will only go for a visitation over night he will not stay any longer and as soon as he wakes up he is ready to come home…If anyone knows about rights or what i can do plz reply before it’s too late.