Partanen v. Gallagher

In 2014, the plaintiff, Karen Partanen, filed a complaint in the Probate and Family Court seeking to establish legal parentage of two young children. The complaint alleged that she and the defendant, Julie Gallagher, had been in a committed, nonmarital relationship between 2001 and 2013. Using in vitro fertilization, and with Partanen’s “full acknowledgment, participation, and consent,” Gallagher gave birth to the two children. Thereafter, Partanen and Gallagher represented themselves publicly as the children’s parents, and jointly raised the children until their 2013 separation. On the basis…