# Mullins v. Picklesimer

> Kentucky Supreme Court · August 26, 2010 · 317 S.W.3d 569

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9749296

## Case

- **Full name:** Arminta Jane MULLINS, Appellant, v. Phyllis Dianne PICKLESIMER, Appellee
- **Court:** Kentucky Supreme Court
- **Decided:** August 26, 2010
- **Citations:** 317 S.W.3d 569; 2010 WL 246063
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurring in part by Scott
- **Judges:** Schroder, Abramson, Noble, Venters, Cunningham, Minton, Scott
- **Cited by:** 69 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9749296

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding that a mother waived her superior right as natural parent to sole custody of a child in favor of a joint custody arrangement with her same-sex non-parent partner, and thus the non-parent partner was entitled to shared custody of the child following dissolution of the r…
- holding that the biological mother’s former same-sex partner had standing to seek custody under a statute granting standing to a nonparent who has physical custody and was acting as a parent, even if the nonparent did so in a shared custody, coparenting situation
- holding that a same-sex partner had standing to pursue custody of her former partner’s biological child when the child was born into the relationship and the partner coparented the child
- holding that same sex partner acting in the capacity of a parent had standing to seek custody and that the biological mother waived her superior custody right

## Opinion text

SCOTT, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I am compelled by the logic of “parenthood” and precedent to join Justice Cunningham’s well-reasoned dissent. The new of theory of “waiver” fashioned by the majorities’ opinion — now “unhinged” from the former requirement of the child’s significant physical separation from the parent — will ultimately enable step-parents to contest for custody of their step-children, even in short term marriages.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9749296. Public record. Not legal advice.