## Facts

- Lorrena and Karah were in a committed same-sex relationship.
- Lorrena conceived a child, R, by artificial insemination and gave birth during the relationship.
- The parties agreed to give R the surname “Madrone”; both adults changed their surnames to Madrone shortly after R’s birth, and that surname appeared on R’s birth certificate.
- After Oregon law permitted registration, the couple registered as domestic partners under the Oregon Family Fairness Act.
- The parties did not take steps to place Karah’s name on R’s birth certificate as a legal parent.
- After the relationship ended, Karah petitioned to dissolve the domestic partnership and sought a declaration that she was R’s legal parent.
- Lorrena opposed parentage, asserting she had not intended a marital-type commitment at the time of conception or birth.

## Issues

1. Whether Oregon’s parentage statutes, as applied in light of the Oregon Family Fairness Act, permitted declaring a non-gestational partner a legal parent when the parties later registered as domestic partners and the child was planned and raised within the relationship.
2. Whether Lorrena’s assertions about her subjective intent created a genuine issue of material fact precluding summary judgment on parentage.

## Decision

- The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment declaring Karah a legal parent of R.
- The court held summary judgment was proper because the material historical facts were not genuinely disputed and Lorrena’s arguments went to legal effect, not factual disputes.
- The court rejected Lorrena’s reliance on subjective intent as a basis to avoid the legal consequences of the parties’ objective conduct and registered domestic-partnership status.

## Legal Principles

- Oregon’s parentage framework, read alongside the Oregon Family Fairness Act, can treat a registered domestic partner as a legal parent in circumstances analogous to marital parentage rules, even without a biological tie or birth-certificate listing.
- Parentage determinations may turn on objective facts and legal status (including registration as domestic partners), not a party’s later-stated subjective intent about commitment.
- Summary judgment is appropriate in parentage litigation when the dispositive facts are undisputed and the remaining question is statutory application as a matter of law.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed summary judgment declaring the non-gestational partner a legal parent, reasoning that Oregon’s statutory scheme extends marriage-like parentage protections to registered domestic partners based on objective facts and legal status, and that asserted subjective intent did not create a triable factual dispute.


Madrone v. Madrone, 350 P.3d 495 (Or. Ct. App. 2015)