In re: B.F. v. C.D. and A.D.

Summary

The court established a new rule for determining whether an unmarried biological father voluntarily forfeited his presumptive custody right: the relevant period begins when he knows or should know that he is the child's father, rather than when paternity is judicially adjudicated. It overruled prior decisions to the extent they required courts to disregard the father's pre-adjudication conduct, reversed the Court of Civil Appeals, and remanded. The court reasoned that a putative father has limited custodial rights before adjudication and should not receive a stronger position than a presumed father merely because paternity was established later.