In re M.F.

Summary

The court held that a same-sex partner of a woman who conceived through artificial insemination may establish maternity under the Kansas Parentage Act by notoriously recognizing maternity, without proving a written or oral coparenting agreement. The court further held that the birth mother's implicit or explicit consent to shared parenting at the child's birth is constitutionally necessary, and that the statutory burdens shift as prescribed by the Act. Because the lower courts applied an incorrect standard by focusing on hands-on parenting and a coparenting agreement, the court reversed and remanded for reconsideration under the proper framework.