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The New York Times
Judge Dissolves Civil
Union in Custody Fight
By ADAM LIPTAK,
nytimes.com on the Web, June 19, 2007
Vermont -- A family court
judge in Vermont on Friday dissolved a civil union between two women whose fight
over their daughter had attracted national attention and for a time put a judge
in Virginia at odds with one in Vermont over whether a child can have two
mothers.
The Vermont judge, William D. Cohen of Rutland Family Court, affirmed that the
two women were legal parents of Isabella Miller-Jenkins, 5. But Judge
Cohen awarded sole physical and legal custody of Isabella to her biological
mother, Lisa Miller.
Judge Cohen ordered Ms. Miller, who now lives in Virginia, to allow her former
lesbian partner, Janet Jenkins, to spend alternate weekends and some holidays
with Isabella.
The ruling was a relatively routine one, as higher courts had decided the larger
questions in the case. In August, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the
two women were legal parents. A few months later, an appeals court in
Virginia, reversing a lower court judge there, accepted that ruling. The
Virginia Supreme Court has not yet weighed in.
In April, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the
Vermont decision.
A lawyer for Ms. Miller, Rena M. Lindevaldsen, said her client welcomed aspects
of the decision but believed that she alone should be able to decide who spent
time with her daughter. Ms. Lindevaldsen said Ms. Miller would continue to
fight for legal recognition as Isabella’s sole parent by appealing to the
Vermont Supreme Court and, if necessary, to the United States Supreme Court.
Ms. Miller and Ms. Jenkins lived together for several years in Virginia before
traveling to Vermont in 2000 to enter into a civil union. Isabella was
born in Virginia in 2002, after Ms. Miller was impregnated with sperm from an
anonymous donor whom Ms. Jenkins helped select.
When Isabella was 4 months old, the women moved to Vermont, where they lived for
about a year before separating. Ms. Miller and Isabella moved back to
Virginia.
Ms. Miller, who had refused to let Ms. Jenkins see Isabella since 2004, recently
allowed two visits in Virginia, lawyers for the parties said.
Judge Cohen ordered Ms. Miller to pay $9,200 in contempt-of-court sanctions for
disobeying earlier court orders and provisionally allowed a $25-a-day fine to
continue. He indicated that he might revisit his custody decision if Ms.
Miller interfered in the relationship between Ms. Jenkins and her daughter.
A lawyer for Ms. Jenkins, Gary Buseck, said the most significant fact about
Judge Cohen’s order was how ordinary it was.
“These cases should be decided not with a gay exception,” Mr. Buseck said, “but
with an eye toward what is in the best interests of the child.”
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