Fathers Right to child

Case name : Michael H . v . Gerald D , 491 U .S . 110 (1989

Nature : An appeal from a decision of the California Superior Court in an action d for affirmation of paternity and rights to visitation by petitioner and cross-complainant at bar

Summary of the case

Title and Parties to the Case : Michael H . v . Gerald D

Michael H . stands as petitioner for the establishment of paternity and visitation rights for daughter , Victoria D

Victoria D , through a court-appointed guardian ad litem , standing as appellant and cross-complainant in the case , impugns her

legitimacy in to gain reasonable custodial rights under her allegedly natural father , Michael H while simultaneously maintaining filial relationships with Gerald D . as her legal father

Gerald D . and Carole D . both stand as respondents-appellants of the case

Facts of the Case

On May 1967 , Carole D , an international model and Gerald D , a top executive in a French Oil company got married . They established a home where they lived as husband and wife . Two years later , Carole got involved in an adulterous affair with her neighbor Michael H Subsequently , Carole gave birth to Victoria D . and in the birth certificate Gerald was named the father of the child

Immediately after the delivery of the child , Carole D . confided to Michael H . that she had strong reasons to believe that he was the real father . A group blood test was taken which only confirmed their suspicions that indeed Michael was the real father . In light of this discovery , Carole paid Michael a brief visit at his place , during which time , Michael held out the daughter as his very own . Not long after Carole left Michael to live with another man and later returned to Gerald

After a series of failed attempts to see his daughter and having been rebuffed by Carol a few times , Michael d a filiation action in California Superior Court to establish his paternity and right to visitation . The child Victoria , in a cross-complaint d through an appointed attorney and guardian ad litem , asseverates that if she had more than one psychological or de facto father , she was entitled to maintain her filial relationship , with all of the attendant rights duties , and obligations , with both

Issues of Law

The law at issue in the case at bar is the California statute holding that a wife cohabiting with her husband , who is not impotent or sterile , is conclusively presumed to be parents of a child of the marriage , unless such presumption is rebutted by competent blood-group test results declaring otherwise . Likewise , a motion for which must be d in court not later than two years from the date of the child 's birth by the husband , or by the natural father after an affidavit recognizing paternity has been d in the appropriate period allotted by law , [Cal . Evid . Code Ann . 621 (a (c (d (West Supp . 1989 )]

Legal questions

Petitioner avers an abridgment of his rights to procedural and substantive due process of law insofar...