LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan Supreme Court has issued a victory for unmarried LGBTQ parents in a decision issued on Monday. The decision allows unmarried partners to seek custody of children with a former same-sex partner if prohibited from marrying prior to the now-overturned state law.

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In the 5-2 ruling, the Michigan Supreme Court decision read, “A former member of a same-sex couple seeking custody of a child to whom they did not give birth and with whom they share no genetic connection is entitled to make their case for equitable parenthood and thus establish standing to bring an action under the CCA. To do so, the
plaintiff must demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that the parties would have married before the child’s conception or birth but for Michigan’s unconstitutional marriage ban.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Carrie Pueblo. Her ex-partner, Rachel Haas, gave birth to a son in 2008. Pueblo and Haas separated in 2012, but Pueblo took Haas to court after claiming she kept in touch with the child and cared for him. She claimed Haas prohibited her from seeing the boy in 2017.

When the child was born in 2008, same-sex marriage was illegal in Michigan. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015.

The Monday ruling  retroactively extends the doctrine to unmarried same-sex parents if they can prove they would have married if it was legal.

Justices David Viviano and Brian Zahra dissented and wrote they disagreed with the extension of the equitable-parent doctrine, arguing that the “plaintiff’s remedy rested with the Legislature rather than the judiciary.

“[This extension] would result in far-reaching ramifications outside the child custody context.

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