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Johnson v. Johnson9/14/2000
d not impose a duty of child support upon a step-grandparent who provided support to a disadvantaged child.
[ ] The majority relies on three cases from other jurisdictions to support its conclusion that equitable adoption should be applied here: Wener v. Wener, 312 N.Y.S.2d 815 (N.Y. App. Div. 1970); Frye v. Frye, 738 P.2d 505 (Nev. 1987); and Geramifar v. Geramifar, 688 A.2d 475 (Md. Ct. App. 1997). These three cases, only two of which are pronouncements from the highest court of each of the three jurisdictions, are exceptionally dissimilar to the circumstances in this case to which the majority attempts to apply them.
A.
[ ] Wener is a lower appellate court decision that has been thrice distinguished: Landon v. Motorola, Inc., 326 N.Y.S.2d 960 (N.Y. App. Div. 1971); V.L.P. v. J.S.S., 407 A.2d 244 (Del. Fam. Ct. 1978); Miller v. Miller, 478 A.2d 351 (N.J. 1984). Importantly, in Wener, and quite distinguishable from this case, the court stated, "the child's natural parents are unknown." 321 N.Y.S.2d at 817.
[ ] In V.L.P., the Family Court of Delaware, discussing a foster father's duty to support his wife's child, stated, "in the absence of adoption, the duty of a father to support an illegitimate child ceases upon termination of the marriage." 407 A.2d 244, 250 (Del. Fam. Ct. 1978) (citing Fuller v. Fuller, 247 A.2d 767 (D.C. App. 1968)). "Specifically," the court stated, "the natural father. . . . could still be sued for support." Id. Likewise here, David Clayton and Michelle Clayton, as natural parents of Jessica, have a superior obligation to provide support.
[ ] The V.L.P. court continued, "a foster father, upon termination of his marriage, had no obligation to support a foster child." Id. (citing Sargeant v. Sargeant, 88 Nev. 223, 495 P.2d 618 (1962)). " foster parent may abandon the position of loco parentis at any time." Id. The duty "to support a stepchild continues only as long as that relationship continues. Thus a divorce terminates the relationship." Id.
[ ] The New Jersey Supreme Court, discussing Wener and other cases permitting equitable adoption, stated, "These cases are easily distinguishable from the present case since, of course, here there are two natural parents, at least one of whom is present and another, while absent, may still be available." Miller v. Miller, 478 A.2d 351, 357 (N.J. 1984). The court distinguished cases in which a child relied on stepparent support because the child never knew of his or her natural parents and had no place to turn if the new parents no longer wished to support the child. Id. At 4, the majority concedes that Jessica Clayton knew of her true parentage, although she may have believed the Johnsons adopted her.
[ ] The Miller court continued, stating stepparent support may be ordered under the doctrine of equitable estoppel, with the caveat, " his doctrine should be applied with caution. Voluntary support by a stepparent should not be discouraged." 478 A.2d at 358. In further analyzing the doctrine of equitable estoppel, the court stated:
o court has ever applied equitable estoppel to force a husband to support the children of his divorced spouse merely because he developed a close relationship with the children, nurtured them into a family unit with himself as the father, and had the children call him "daddy." We decline to be the first to set such a precedent.
A stepparent who tried to create a warm family atmosphere with his or her stepchildren would be penalized by being forced to pay support for them in the event of a divorce. At the same time, a stepparent who refused to have anything to do with his or her stepchildren beyond supporting
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