Tragic judge’s ruling skirted in kid-custody feud

A MANHATTAN woman has lost her fight in a bid to win shared custody of her expartner’s adopted son — despite a landmark ruling by late Court of Appeals Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam.

Kelly Gunn had been fighting since September 2016 for joint custody of the 6-year-old boy whom her ex-partner, Circe Hamilton, officially adopted from Ethiopia in 2011.

The women submitted paperwork in 2009 — when they were still a couple — but the adoption was not finalized until two years later, after they had called it quits.

Gunn, 52, asked a court to intervene in the custody question after Hamilton said she and the boy were moving to London. Gunn’s lawyer, Nancy Chemtob, contended the boy considers her client his second mother and that they spend a lot of time together.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper on Sept. 1, 2016, temporarily barred Hamilton, 45, from leaving the country with the boy. Cooper cited the late Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam’s ruling — which came down one day before Gunn and Hamilton’s court appearance — enabling non-biological and non-adoptive parents to seek custody in the event of a split.

But Justice Frank Nervo didn’t think Gunn had parental rights — deciding “petitioner has on numerous occasions stated that she did not want to be a parent and gave no indication to either respondent or third parties that she either wanted this role or acted as a parent.

“Therefore, she has failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that she has standing as a parent,” Nervo added.

Nervo’s decision doesn’t go into effect for another 20 days — meaning Gunn can and will seek a stay and appeal, Chemtob told the Daily News on Friday.