T.B. v. L.R.M.

786 A.2d 913 (2001)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

G and M engaged in an exclusive, intimate relationship. The parties shared finances and expenses through a joint bank account and jointly purchased a home. They decided to have a child. M would be impregnated by donor sperm, and G would choose the donor. G cared for M during her pregnancy and attended childbirth classes with her. G was the designated co-parent for purposes of being present in the operating room during the birth. The parties lived together with the child but did not enter into a formal parenting agreement. M named G as guardian of the child in her will. They shared day-to-day child-rearing responsibilities, including taking A.M. for medical check-ups and other appointments. A.M. referred to G as 'Aunt [T.].' Eventually, things went bad between G and M. G left the home and engaged in a relationship with another woman. The parties separated M refused all visitation requests, telephone calls and gifts for the child. P filed a 'Complaint for Shared Legal and Partial Custody and Visitation.' M filed preliminary objections to the complaint, contending that G lacked standing to sue for visitation. The court ruled that G had standing to seek custody/visitation pursuant to the doctrine of in loco parentis. The hearing officer found that it would be in A.M.'s best interests to grant G partial custody for purposes of visitation. M excepted. The common pleas court adopted the hearing officer's recommendations and granted G one visitation period per month. M filed an appeal in Superior Court. The Superior Court agreed that G stood in loco parentis to A.M. and therefore had standing to seek visitation. It concluded, however, that the record did not provide an adequate basis for review of the trial court's decision that visitation was in A.M.'s best interests. Accordingly, it vacated the visitation order and remanded for a full hearing to determine whether visitation was in A.M.'s best interests. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania granted allocatur solely to examine whether the lower courts properly applied the common law doctrine of in loco parentis as a method of conferring standing upon G to seek partial custody of A.M. for purposes of visitation.