In a custody battle, the biological parent will usually receive custody. In most situations, biological parents split custody in whatever way is best for the child. But in his case out of Montana, a father acted so unlike a father that the Court awarded custody to child’s step-father after the biological mother passed away.
In re A.P.P. (No. DA 10-0470, Montana Supreme Court, March 22, 2011), the father disregarded his custody agreement, letting months go by without contacting his child. He also failed to pay approximately seventy percent of his ordered support.
While that was going on, the step-father “financially supported the child, regularly helped her with her homework, attended her sporting events and school activities, provided transportation to school and other places, prepared meals for her, and took care of her while her mother worked.”
This case shows how, in the search for the best interests of the child, biology is not everything.
Read the case here: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/mt-supreme-court/1560486.html.
