Question asked on Feb 20th, 2017

Q: I’m a gay married man and my husband and I did artificial insemination with a friend. Are daughter is 11 months old. Has never slept at our house. We would like joint custody. We only see our daughter on Wed, thurs, and Friday during the day. She’s dropped off at 7:45am and picked up at 7pm. The mother is undocumented and could leave with her without our consent. We want are protections as her father and we want our time with her (vacations, weekends, holidays, etc)

A: Presuming all this is in Nevada (answers vary in different places), there are multiple layers here.  First, under current NV law, the two bio parents have equal rights absent a court order to the contrary.  See here.  Who is on the birth certificate? (if no one as father, a “parentage” action is necessary — see details here).  Gay/straight is irrelevant to this issue under current law, as is (usually) citizenship/being undocumented.  Was there an agreement in advance?  The law has changed in the past couple of years to protect “intended parents” including in surrogacy situations, and it is potentially possible to have three “parents” involved if the agreements were set up correctly.  Bottom line is that your situation is complicated enough, and has enough twists and turns, that you should consider a consultation with a family law specialist, in this firm or some other, versed in these subjects.  If you wish to make an appointment here, see the information posted here.

Marshal S. Willick