Court reverses custody ruling
10 July 2010
Court reverses custody ruling
Rights for unmarried couples at issue
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
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The Michigan Court of Appeals this week reversed a lower court decision that could have given gays, lesbians and unmarried heterosexuals in Michigan legal standing to obtain joint custody of children.
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The decision came in the case involving Renee Harmon and Tammy Davis, a Grosse Ile couple who broke up in 2008 after 19 years. Along the way, Davis had three children through artificial insemination. Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen McCarthy ruled in April that Harmon had legal standing to try to pursue joint custody of the children she helped raise.
But appeals Judges Karen Fort Hood, Michael Talbot and Christopher Murray disagreed, ruling Thursday that "one becomes a parent under the Child Custody Act through procreation, or through adoption or the presumption ... arising from a child born in a legal marriage."
They said none of these situations existed in Harmon's case, so she has no legal standing to sue for joint custody. The panel sent the case back to McCarthy for further proceedings consistent with its order.
"We're very pleased," said Davis' lawyer, David Viar, of Rochester. He said McCarthy was legally off base in her ruling and that the appeals court decision "was not a huge surprise."
Harmon's lawyers, Dana Nessel of Detroit and Nicole Childers of Royal Oak, said they plan to appeal.
"Renee is devastated by the decision," Childers said, adding she and Nessel thought the Court of Appeals would allow lawyers to submit legal briefs on the case rather than peremptorily striking down McCarthy's decision.
Contact DAVID ASHENFELTER: dashenfelter@freepress.com