## Facts

- Bani Chatterjee and Taya King were in a long-term committed relationship when they agreed to bring a child into their family.
- With Chatterjee’s active participation, King adopted a child from Russia during the relationship.
- Chatterjee did not adopt the child and was not the child’s biological parent.
- Chatterjee alleged she lived in the family home, provided financial support, co-parented the child for years, and held the child out as her own.
- After the relationship ended, King moved with the child to Colorado and attempted to end Chatterjee’s contact with the child.
- Chatterjee petitioned in New Mexico district court to establish parentage and determine custody and timesharing, claiming presumed parentage under the former New Mexico Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) and, alternatively, equitable/de facto parent status.

## Issues

1. Whether the UPA’s presumptions establishing a father-child relationship may be applied to a woman, when practicable, to establish a mother-child relationship.
2. Whether Chatterjee pleaded sufficient facts to qualify as a presumed natural parent and thus have standing under New Mexico’s Dissolution of Marriage Act to seek joint custody and timesharing.
3. Whether equitable or de facto parent doctrines are necessary when statutory presumptions establish parentage.

## Decision

- The New Mexico Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of Chatterjee’s custody-related claims and remanded for further proceedings.
- The Court held Chatterjee’s pleaded facts were sufficient to confer standing as a presumed natural parent.
- The Court rejected the view that the former UPA presumptions are categorically limited to men, holding they apply to women where practicable.
- Because statutory presumptions supported standing, the Court did not rely on purely equitable theories to recognize Chatterjee’s ability to pursue custody.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory interpretation begins with plain language; UPA provisions concerning paternity must be applied to maternity when practicable.
- UPA parentage presumptions are not confined by gender when the underlying criteria can be met by a woman, including receiving a child into the home, openly holding the child out as one’s own, and providing emotional and financial support.
- A person who pleads facts supporting presumed natural parent status is not treated as a third party for standing purposes and may pursue custody and timesharing on the same footing as a parent.
- New Mexico public policy favors recognizing and encouraging the support of children by adults who assume parental responsibility, consistent with statutory parentage frameworks.

## Conclusion

The court held that a nonbiological, nonadoptive same-sex partner who alleges she received the child into her home, held the child out as her own, and provided parental support may be a presumed natural parent under the former UPA, conferring standing to seek joint custody and timesharing, and remanded for proceedings on the merits.


Chatterjee v. King, 280 P.3d 283 (N.M. 2012)