Mw

INTRODUCTION

M.W. (hereafter Kim) and G.G. (father) are the biological parents of three-year-old Nathan. Father and his wife, Amy, have raised Nathan in their home since he was one month old.

In an action brought by Kim for custody and visitation rights to her biological child, the trial court denied father’s motion to join Amy as a party. Father filed a petition for writ of prohibition to vacate the court’s order and to join Amy in the action.

Amy also brought a separate action against Kim and father, to be declared Nathan’s presumed mother; the trial court granted Kim’s motion to quash and dismissed that action. Amy and father appealed that order.

In this consolidated petition and appeal, father and Amy argue that Amy is Nathan’s presumed mother, and therefore the trial court erred in denying Amy joinder or standing. Father and Amy’s arguments present the question of whether the statutory presumptions of paternity contained in the Family Code enable the wife of a man who fathered a child in an extramarital relationship to assert status as the child’s mother, when the child’s biological mother has come forward promptly to assert her maternal rights.

We answer no,…