Pierce v. Yerkovich

The petitioner, Franklin Pierce, the acknowledged father of an illegitimate child, seeks to have defined and enforced his asserted right to visitation with his five-year-old daughter, which right the mother has, for the past year and a half, adamantly refused to recognize.

Custody of the child is not at issue. What is at issue is whether through de-emphasis of parental rights (see Finlay v. Finlay, 240 N. Y. 429, 433-434) and strict adherence to the “ best interests of the child ” criterion as conceived and defined by the mother alone, the court should permit the mother as custodial parent the…