K v. C

55 Misc. 3d 723, 51 N.Y.S.3d 838
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 2017
StatusPublished

This text of 55 Misc. 3d 723 (K v. C) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
K v. C, 55 Misc. 3d 723, 51 N.Y.S.3d 838 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Frank P. Ñervo, J.

Motion sequence No. 001 and No. 002 are consolidated for disposition in the following decision and order.

On September 1, 2016, petitioner moved for an order of joint custody with respondent of A (the child), the setting of a visitation schedule, and ancillary relief. A was born in Ethiopia; respondent adopted him in August 2011. (Motion sequence No. 1.)

On September 6, 2016, respondent moved to dismiss the petition and for sanctions. (Motion sequence No. 2.) In light of the fact that the parties participated in a hearing over the course of five months, the court will treat this motion as an answer to the petition.

This petition follows the August 30, 2016 decision of the Court of Appeals in Matter of Brooke S.B. v Elizabeth A.C.C. (28 NY3d 1 [2016]). The Court in Brooke provides that, in pertinent part, “where a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties agreed to conceive a child and to raise the child together, the non-biological, non-adoptive partner has standing to seek visitation and custody under [New York State’s] Domestic Relations Law § 70.” (Id. at 14.)

The hearing started on September 8, 2016, and concluded on February 16, 2017. At the conclusion of the petitioner’s case on November 23, 2016, in an order dated January 5, 2017, the court denied respondent’s motion to dismiss the petition, determining petitioner had established a prima facie case allowing the matter to proceed. Respondent then proceeded with her defense to the petition.

Petitioner and respondent were in a relationship from 2007 to 2009, entering into a cohabitation agreement on May 18, 2007 (petitioner’s exhibit 1). It is undisputed that during their relationship, they entered into a plan to adopt and raise a child together. It is also undisputed that the parties’ relation[725]*725ship deteriorated over time and they entered into a separation agreement on May 28, 2010. (Petitioner’s exhibit 19.)

Respondent first learned that A was available for adoption in Ethiopia in March 2011, when she received his photograph and other information about him. She then began taking the necessary steps to complete the adoption.

Petitioner contends that her parenthood is established by her continued cooperation in the adoption process after the parties had separated. She contends that this cooperation included a $350,000 remittance to respondent as part of their separation agreement enabling respondent to establish a home sufficient to pass inspection by the adoption agency, her traveling with respondent and the child on a London-to-New York trip, and her involvement with the child’s medical care, educational and social activities after his arrival in New York. Petitioner concedes that her involvement with the child was limited because respondent would disapprove.

Respondent contends the plan to adopt dissolved contemporaneously with the dissolution of the parties’ relationship, and that petitioner’s involvement with the child after his adoption establishes only a supportive role as a close friend of the respondent and her child. She states that respondent was merely a godmother. Respondent also argues that at no time did she encourage, facilitate or condone a parental relationship between petitioner and her son.

The issue before the court is:

Has the petitioner met her burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence that the parties had a plan to adopt and raise a child together that continued unabated?

The court is mindful that Brooke does not include the words “continued unabated.” However, in the context of this case the standard must be an unabated plan. The court cannot take the position that once the parties discussed an adoption plan that plan continued without limit, despite the parties’ subsequent conduct and intent, an intent that terminated prior to the adoption, as demonstrated by the facts in the case.

Petitioner contends that once the parties entered into the adoption plan, it permanently gave her the same rights as a biological parent and, further, that after the child’s arrival in New York, respondent encouraged and condoned her involvement as a parent to A. The court rejects this because at the time of the adoption, the earlier agreement between the par[726]*726ties had already terminated as demonstrated by the conduct and words of respondent and the conduct and words of the petitioner, such as her statements that she did not want to be a mother, and her other statements that she considered respondent to be the sole adopting parent.

Respondent contends that any rights that the parties had once planned for petitioner ceased when the relationship terminated. She argues that she never encouraged, condoned, or recognized petitioner as a parent to her child.

Petitioner’s Evidence

Petitioner compensated respondent for her interest in the two properties the parties had previously owned jointly. There is no evidence that this was in furtherance of petitioner’s continued involvement in the adoption process. The separation agreement makes no mention of the adoption and unambiguously sets forth “[Petitioner] shall pay [respondent] a lump-sum payment in the amount of Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($350,000.00) (the ‘buy-out amount’) in consideration for [respondent’s] divestiture of her interest in 181 Sullivan and 128 Duryea.” (Petitioner’s exhibit 19, para 2.)

As to petitioner’s trip to New York from London with the respondent and the child, petitioner could not confirm respondent requested she meet them in London. In an email dated July 26, 2011, in addition to advising respondent of the mundane details of her personal and business schedule around the time of the trip, petitioner writes:

“If it happens that you’re travelling to get [A], I can either go all the way with you, or meet you in London and help you with the 2nd leg of the trip from London to NYC. I’m happy to do it, I’d love to actually, so let me know . . . Let me know your thoughts or if you need help on anything.” (Respondent’s K in evidence [emphasis supplied].)

On August 4, 2011, petitioner writes to respondent “I’d love to meet you in London and travel back with you if the timing works out” To which petitioner replies, “Yes if timing works out that could be amazing.” (Respondent’s exhibit IIIII in evidence [emphasis supplied].) These emails demonstrate only that this trip, in which the child is being brought to New York for the first time, is not one planned by two people adopting that child, but rather an arduous trip about which a friend offers to participate in to lend assistance.

[727]*727In attempting to demonstrate her involvement with the child’s medical care after he arrived in New York, petitioner relies on visits where she accompanied the child and the respondent, on two occasions to Tribeca Pediatrics and on one occasion to Dr. A. (Dr. A is the physician the parties jointly consulted when initially embarking on the adoption process.) However, the records of Tribeca Pediatrics note respondent as the child’s mother and refer to petitioner as only an emergency contact. While petitioner argues this note serves in some manner to establish her parenthood, the court disagrees, and finds this note serves only to establish petitioner as an emergency contact.

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Related

S.B. v. A.C.C.
61 N.E.3d 488 (New York Court of Appeals, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Misc. 3d 723, 51 N.Y.S.3d 838, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/k-v-c-nysupct-2017.