## Facts

- Tiffany M. Legg and Candace L. Back were in a same-sex relationship and entered a Vermont civil union in 2010 while Back was pregnant.
- Shortly after the civil union, Back gave birth to Ethan.
- Legg and Back intentionally listed Legg as Ethan’s “father” on the birth certificate even though Legg knew she was not Ethan’s biological parent.
- Ethan was given the surname “Aldridge-Legg,” combining Back’s maiden name (Aldridge) with Legg’s surname.
- The biological father, William Bachman, was identified and later adjudicated as Ethan’s legal father; his parental rights were not terminated.
- Legg and Back raised Ethan together for several years, and Kentucky family-court orders recognized Legg as a de facto parent (or functional parent) for custody/visitation purposes.
- After the relationship ended, Legg sought a declaration in Fayette Family Court that she was Ethan’s legal parent and argued the biological father’s rights should be terminated to permit that result.
- The family court denied Legg’s request to be declared a legal parent and declined to terminate the biological father’s rights.
- Legg appealed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether Kentucky law permits a court to declare a nonbiological former same-sex partner a child’s legal parent when a biological father has already been adjudicated as the legal father and retains intact parental rights, and whether the court could terminate the father’s rights in this posture to allow that declaration.

## Decision

- The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed the Fayette Family Court.
- The court held Kentucky statutes did not authorize termination of the biological father’s parental rights under these circumstances and that termination requires strict compliance with KRS Chapter 625.
- The court held the family court could not declare Legg a legal parent where a biological father had already been adjudicated as the legal father with intact rights.
- The court treated Legg’s existing de facto parent status as relevant to custody/visitation, but not as a basis for creating full legal parentage absent statutory authority.

## Legal Principles

- Termination of parental rights in Kentucky is governed by statute and may occur only when statutory grounds and procedures (including those in KRS Chapter 625) are satisfied.
- A court may recognize a nonparent’s role for custody or visitation based on the person’s parent-like relationship with the child, but that functional status does not automatically confer legal parenthood.
- When a biological parent has been adjudicated as a child’s legal parent and retains intact rights, Kentucky courts lack authority to declare another person a legal parent in a way that would displace or require ending the existing parent-child legal relationship, absent a statutory mechanism.
- Listing a nonbiological partner as a parent on a birth certificate and intent to co-parent, without more, does not create legal parent status under Kentucky law where another legal parent’s rights remain in place.

## Conclusion

The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of Legg’s petition to be declared Ethan’s legal parent, holding that Kentucky law did not permit terminating the adjudicated biological father’s intact parental rights in this case and did not authorize a judicial declaration of Legg’s legal parentage merely from her de facto parenting role, intent to parent, or birth-certificate listing.


Legg v. Commonwealth, 500 S.W.3d 837 (2016)