J.S.W. v. A.W.R.

MAXWELL, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. In a typical custody case between a natural parent and a third party, the doctrine of in loco parentis cannot be used by the third party to rebut the natural-parent presumption. But this is not a typical custody case.

¶2. Instead,.this is a three-way custody action between (1) the natural mother, (2) the mother’s ex-husband, who had supported, cared, and treated the child as his own, and (3) the man who turned out to be the child’s biological father. And in this “very limited, unique situation,” the fact the ex-husband stood in loco parentis by his fatherly…