AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• Two women in a committed domestic relationship agreed to bring a child into their relationship. One woman adopted a child from Russia with the active participation of her partner, who supported them financially and co-parented the child. After their relationship ended, the adoptive mother moved and sought to prevent her former partner from having any contact with the child. The non-adoptive partner filed a petition to establish parentage and determine custody and timesharing, claiming to be a presumed natural parent under the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act and an equitable or de facto parent (paras 1-2).

Procedural History

• District Court: Dismissed the Petition for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
• Court of Appeals: Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to the district court. Held that the petitioner did not have standing to seek joint custody absent a showing of the adoptive mother's unfitness because she is neither the biological nor the adoptive mother of the child. However, it reversed the district court’s dismissal concerning the opportunity for the petitioner to seek standing for visitation and remanded to the district court, instructing it to determine whether visitation with the petitioner would be in the child's best interests (para 3).

Parties' Submissions

• Petitioner: Argued that she was a presumed natural parent under the former codification of the New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act and claimed to be the equitable or de facto parent of the child, entitled to relief (para 2).
• Respondent: Filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the petitioner was a third party seeking custody and visitation of the child and that the law prohibits a third party from receiving custody rights absent a showing of unfitness of the natural or adoptive parent (para 2).

Legal Issues

• Whether the petitioner has pleaded sufficient facts in her Petition to give her standing to pursue joint custody of the child under the Dissolution of Marriage Act (para 4).
• Whether the provisions of the Uniform Parentage Act applicable to the father and child relationship apply to women when it is practicable to do so (para 10).

Disposition

• The Supreme Court of New Mexico reversed the Court of Appeals and remanded the case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with the opinion (para 53).

Reasons

• The Supreme Court held that the petitioner has standing to bring an action to establish a parent and child relationship with the child pursuant to Section 40-11-21 because she has alleged sufficient facts to establish that she is a presumed natural parent under Section 40-11-5(A)(4). The Court concluded that the facts pleaded by the petitioner are sufficient to confer standing on her as a natural mother because the plain language of the Uniform Parentage Act instructs courts to apply the criteria for establishing a presumption that a man is a natural parent to women when it is practicable. The Court also considered the public policy to encourage the support of children by providers willing and able to care for the child. The Court disagreed with the Court of Appeals' interpretation that biology or adoption are the only means to establish a mother and child relationship, emphasizing that the Uniform Parentage Act's provisions relating to the father and child relationship apply to women in appropriate situations (paras 5, 10-37, 53).