Vegas man legally declared brother’s father after living with mother’s abuse for years

Content warning: This article describes child sexual abuse. Please take care while reading.

In an unusual and fraught ruling, a Clark County judge in Nevada has legally declared Logan Gifford, now 26, the father of his 15-year-old brother.

Gifford has long maintained that he was sexually abused by his mother, Doreene Gifford, beginning around age 10 and continuing until about age 17. This abuse led Logan to suspect that he might have fathered the boy rather than his biological father, Theodore Gifford.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the judge’s decision does not affirm that Gifford is the boy’s genetic father. Rather, the judge used default-judgment authority to name him the legal parent in the absence of opposition, as the primary goal of the filing was to establish legal standing for caregiving.

Doreene’s Alford plea

In 2015, Doreene Gifford entered an Alford plea on charges including attempted sexual assault and lewdness with a minor, meaning she acknowledged the prosecution had enough evidence to convict, but did not admit guilt. She was sentenced to a prison term of 8 to 20 years and served about nine years.

Years later, especially following Doreene’s release from prison, Gifford became his younger brother’s primary caregiver. The boy, who is now 15, has disabilities that require extensive educational and medical support, and until early 2025 was living with the brothers’ assumed biological father, Theodore.

The seed of doubt was planted when Gifford was 17, during a therapy session, where one of the therapists asked him whether there was any possibility that his younger brother might actually be his own son. That intervening question, Gifford says, “made it click” that, given the timeline of the abuse, conception might have occurred during the period when Doreene was assaulting him.

Gifford filed a Petition to Establish Paternity and Parental Rights this year in family court, driven by the urgency of gaining legal standing to make necessary decisions for the dependent teen.

The case was set in motion, but Theodore, the presumed father listed on the sibling’s birth record, failed to respond, and the court entered a default judgment. Procedurally, the judge declared Logan the legal parent in Theodore’s absence.

DNA test results: inconclusive, ambiguous overlap

One of the biggest hurdles in Gifford’s quest was genetic testing. The court-ordered DNA test showed that both Logan and Theodore matched the teen at a 99.9% level, a highly ambiguous result that makes paternity uncertain rather than conclusive.

Because full siblings share close genetic markers, a standard paternity test cannot reliably distinguish whether the father is the brother or the actual father in such a scenario. The court has offered Gifford the option to pursue advanced genetic testing—for example, additional markers or extended family samples to resolve the uncertainty.

Gifford has stated that regardless of the ultimate biological results, he intends to maintain custody or guardianship, arguing that the boy already depends on him for day-to-day care and advocacy. The legal establishment of paternity was crucial to formalize this caregiving relationship.

In the ruling, the judge noted that the court had not conclusively confirmed biological paternity. Rather, because the presumed father did not challenge the petition or appear, the judge exercised default powers to name Logan the legal parent.

Gifford now has legal standing to act in place of a parent—including making critical decisions over education, healthcare, and custody—a status that will remain unless and until further evidence or a challenge alters it.

If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673