When the New York Court of Appeals issued its landmark 2016 ruling to expand the definition of parenthood to nonmarried ex-partners of biological parents, it left open the question of how such a parent could have standing to seek custody without a preconception agreement.

But a Long Island trial court has become the first to offer an answer, ruling that a woman who was part of a now-defunct same-sex relationship may assert the same standing as nonbiological fathers in similar predicaments who seek custodial rights.

In a ruling issued Wednesday, Nassau County Family Court Judge Thomas Rademaker found that a woman identified in court papers as J.C. may seek custodial and visitation rights of two children who were born to N.P., J.C.'s former partner, with whom no preconception agreement was established by invoking equitable estoppel.