Background
Carolyn Tschummi and Kimberly Fegan were formerly in an intimate relationship and jointly pursued in vitro fertilization. Fegan gave birth to M in 2018. After the relationship ended, Tschummi filed a custody action in 2021, asserting that she was M’s legal parent.
The court dismissed that custody action after determining that Tschummi was not a legal parent under any avenue recognized by Connecticut law at the time and therefore lacked standing. Tschummi did not appeal. After the Connecticut Parentage Act took effect on January 1, 2022, she filed a new petition seeking adjudication as M’s parent. The trial court denied Fegan’s motion to dismiss and ultimately adjudicated Tschummi a legal parent.
The Court’s Holding
The Appellate Court reversed. It held that the 2021 custody proceeding constituted an adjudication of Tschummi’s parentage by a court of competent jurisdiction before the Parentage Act took effect. Although that proceeding concerned custody and ended in dismissal for lack of standing, the dismissal necessarily depended on the court’s determination that Tschummi was not M’s legal parent.
Under General Statutes § 46b-553, the Parentage Act does not apply when a person’s parentage was already adjudicated before January 1, 2022. The prior judge’s statements that the dismissal was “without prejudice” to a future claim under the new act were dicta and could not override that statutory limitation. Tschummi therefore lacked standing, leaving the trial court without subject matter jurisdiction. The case was remanded with direction to grant Fegan’s motion to dismiss.
Key Takeaways
- A pre-2022 ruling necessarily determining whether a person was a legal parent can qualify as a prior parentage adjudication under § 46b-553, even when entered in a custody case.
- A dismissal for lack of standing may constitute a parentage adjudication when the standing decision necessarily turns on the claimant’s legal-parent status.
- A court’s dicta anticipating relief under a future statute cannot displace the statute’s express transitional limitation.
Why It Matters
This first-impression interpretation of the Connecticut Parentage Act’s transitional provision limits use of the act to revisit parentage determinations made before its effective date. Courts must examine the substance of an earlier proceeding, not merely its caption or procedural form, to determine whether parentage was previously adjudicated.