Feehan v. Superior Court (2024) Docket A170984
Holding
In a parentage action, the trial court has broad equitable authority under FC §§3022 and 3100(a) to enter pendente lite visitation orders. Authority exists where the requesting party makes a preliminary showing of being a presumed parent and where the order is in the best interests of the child. Reversed and remanded a trial-court order that had concluded it lacked authority to grant temporary visitation pending a parentage determination.
Relevance to this matter
Verification flag. The Phase 3 plan briefly described Feehan as a “child preference / self-help custody modification” case. As located, this 2024 Feehan v. Superior Court is a parentage / pendente lite visitation case and does not appear to address child preference or self-help custody modification. Two possibilities: (a) the plan intended a different “Feehan” decision; (b) the plan’s brief description was approximate. Confirm before deploying this case for any child-preference proposition. As written, the case is most directly relevant to procedural authority for pendente lite visitation orders.