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Rubano v. DiCenzo9/25/2000
Two women agreed to become the parents of a child. They arranged for one of them to conceive via artificial insemination by an anonymous donor. Following the child's birth, they raised him for four years while living together as domestic partners in the same household. Thereafter the women separated but the biological mother agreed to allow the nonbiological parent to have informal visits with the child. Under these circumstances, does the Family Court have jurisdiction over a petition brought to determine the existence of a mother and child relationship between the nonbiological parent and the child? If so, can the Family Court enforce the domestic partners' written agreement (embodied in a consent order previously entered by the court) to allow the nonbiological parent to have visitation with the child after the parents have separated? These are questions of first impression in Rhode Island. For the reasons related below, we answer both of them in the affirmative.
Facts/Travel
In 1988, plaintiff Maureen V. Rubano (Rubano) and defendant Concetta A. DiCenzo (DiCenzo) entered into what they characterize as a "committed relationship." Eventually they set up house together as domestic partners in Massachusetts. Three years later, still "more at love than law," they decided to have and raise a child. Accordingly, they arranged for DiCenzo to conceive via artificial insemination by an anonymous donor. In 1992, DiCenzo gave birth to a son. Thereafter, acting together with Rubano, she caused his last name to be listed on the birth and baptismal certificates as Rubano-DiCenzo and sent out printed birth announcements identifying both of them as the child's parents. Although Rubano never adopted the child, for four years she lived together with DiCenzo and both of them raised the boy as their son. In 1996, however, the couple separated. Taking the boy with her, DiCenzo moved to Rhode Island.
Initially the parties set up an informal visitation schedule for Rubano to see the child. But in 1997 the schedule collapsed in the face of DiCenzo's resistance. Consequently, Rubano filed a miscellaneous petition in Family Court seeking to establish her de facto parental status and to obtain court-ordered visitation with the child. After Rubano filed the lawsuit, the court appointed a guardian ad litem for the boy. In due course, the guardian submitted her recommendations to the court and the parties negotiated a compromise that they embodied in a consent order (order). The order stipulated that Rubano was to have "permanent visitation with [the child]" on a periodic basis, in exchange for which she agreed to waive "any claim or cause of action she has or may have to recognition as a parent of the minor child * * *." After reviewing and approving its terms, including the parties' recitation that the visitation provisions of the order were "in the best interests of the minor child," the Chief Judge of the Family Court entered this agreement as an order of that court.
DiCenzo, however, allegedly reneged yet again on the visitation agreement by thwarting Rubano's attempted visits with the child. DiCenzo, who by now had entered into a new relationship, contended that Rubano's visits had become psychologically harmful to the child. Charging once more into the breach, Rubano sought contempt relief from the Family Court and asked it to enforce the order. This time, however, DiCenzo was not as agreeable as when the parties had first formulated the order: she now argued that the Family Court lacked jurisdiction to enter the order in the first place, much less to enforce it. Rubano countered that the Legislature had bestowed jurisdiction upon the Family Court to resolve matters like this an
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorneys
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