Background
In this dissolution case, the district court adjudicated Kylan Scavarda the legal father of H.L., his wife Andrea Eskanos’s older child from a prior relationship. H.L.’s biological father had died. Scavarda had sought parenting rights as H.L.’s psychological parent, and the parties’ child and family investigator recommended that he receive parental responsibilities as a nonparent.
The district court instead declared Scavarda H.L.’s legal father and awarded the parties joint decision-making and equal parenting time for H.L. and their younger biological child. It also entered child support based on the equal-time arrangement, denied Eskanos maintenance, and rejected her domestic-violence-based objections to equal parenting time and joint decision-making for the younger child.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals held that the district court lacked authority to adjudicate Scavarda H.L.’s legal father without following the Uniform Parentage Act. No party had requested that adjudication, the deceased biological father’s representative was neither joined nor given notice, and the court did not properly address competing presumptions of parentage. The court therefore reversed the legal-parentage ruling, H.L.’s parental-responsibilities order, and the intertwined child-support order.
On remand, the district court must follow the Uniform Parentage Act if a party seeks a parentage adjudication. If Scavarda instead seeks parental responsibilities as a nonparent, the court must apply the nonparent standard. The appellate court otherwise affirmed: the record supported equal parenting time and joint decision-making for the younger child, and the parties had not entered a binding agreement requiring maintenance. It directed the district court to decide the parties’ requests for appellate fees and costs.
Key Takeaways
- A dissolution court must follow the Uniform Parentage Act before adjudicating legal parentage.
- A deceased alleged parent’s representative must be joined or receive notice in a parentage proceeding.
- A psychological parent is not on equal footing with a legal parent in a parental-responsibilities dispute.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores that courts cannot convert a psychological-parent claim into a legal-parentage adjudication without the procedural protections and substantive analysis required by the Uniform Parentage Act. Those requirements remain applicable even when the biological parent is deceased.
It also preserves the distinction between legal and psychological parenthood: a nonparent may seek parental responsibilities, but must overcome the presumption favoring the legal parent under the governing nonparent standard.