Also known as: parent-child · parent and child relationship · parent-child relationship · parent-child doctrine · filial relationship
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A legal status connecting an individual to a child that determines rights to inheritance, custody, and support. The status arises by birth, formal adoption, or de facto parentage and extends equally to every child and parent without regard to the marital status of the parents.
Paige Porter gave birth to a daughter while unmarried. After Paige died without a will, her daughter claimed the estate under intestate succession. The court recognized the full parent-child relationship because the status extends equally regardless of marital status, allowing the daughter to inherit as a descendant.
Priscilla Parks's twelve-year-old son threw a rock that injured a neighbor. The neighbor sued Priscilla solely because she was the boy's mother. The court dismissed the claim because the parent-child relationship alone does not impose vicarious liability. Liability requires the parent's own negligent supervision or entrustment.
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Pamela Phillips formally adopted her stepdaughter after marrying the child's mother. When Pamela later died intestate, the stepdaughter claimed a share of the estate as a child. The court held that the adoption created a full parent-child relationship, placing the adoptee in the same position as a biological child for inheritance purposes.
Phoebe Park lived with and raised her partner's biological child for six years, providing daily care and holding the child out as her own. After the partner died, Phoebe sought recognition as a parent for custody and support. The court found a parent-child relationship based on de facto parentage arising from the functional parental role.
Pavel Petrov's will attempted to redirect pension benefits away from his former spouse and their child. The surviving spouse challenged the attempt in federal court. The court declined to override the state-law parent-child relationship, noting that domestic relations of parent and child belong to state law rather than federal pension rules.
Pearl Porter died before her child was born through posthumous conception under a surrogacy agreement. The child sought Social Security survivor benefits as a descendant. The Court required proof that the deceased parent would have acknowledged the child under state law governing the parent-child relationship before granting benefits.
No. The relationship alone does not impose vicarious liability. A parent is liable only when the parent's own negligence, such as negligent supervision, proximately causes the child's tortious conduct.
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The relationship extends equally to every child and parent regardless of marital status. It also arises through formal adoption or de facto parentage under the applicable uniform acts.
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Yes. Abolition of immunity removes the relationship-based defense but does not create liability where the conduct would otherwise be privileged or non-tortious under ordinary negligence principles.
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No. An intended parent must also function as a parent within a reasonable time after birth. The surrogate is almost never treated as a legal parent under class-gift rules.
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…transfers of pension plan benefits. As a general matter, "[t]he whole subject of the domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the States and not to the laws of the United States." In re Burrus , 136 U. S. 586, 593-594 (1890). Support obligations, in particular, are "deeply rooted moral…