Connor Perkins knew he was the father. He was there when his girlfriend Treneka Simmonds gave birth to their child in February 2013. He took the child to doctor’s appointments, enrolled the child in daycare, voluntarily paid child support and was referred to as “daddy” by the child. Perkins claimed that he was not aware that the mother was in an intact marriage, which resulted in him being denied parental rights with the child by the Broward Circuit Court.

When Perkins sought to establish his paternal rights with the child, Judge Arthur Birken found that the facts strongly favored him having some involvement in the child’s life. However, Judge Birken expressed that he was restrained from ruling in favor of Perkins because Florida law precluded a biological parent from seeking to establish paternity when the husband and wife both objected. “Perhaps there needs to be some movement in the law. However, it needs to come from a higher court or from the Legislature,” Judge Birken ruled. That movement in the law has now occurred.