 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Family Forum / Parenting / Step Parents / October 2004Interesting Legal and Financial Question
Inspired by Prenup thread. "Do StepParents have rights?" I think the answer is no. I think that there is no legal relationship between the SP and the SK unless the SP has adopted the SK. Spouse (SP) has legal and financial rights in reference to his/her Spouse. Bio Parent has legal and financial obligations/expectations to his biokids. I don't think the SP and the SK have any legal relationship at all. Does anyone have firm infor (not opinons on what should be) on what the legal relationship if any is? Grace > Does anyone have firm infor (not opinons on what should be) on what the > legal > relationship if any is? None, unless and until the SP adopts/shows willingness to adopt the SK. Jess >> Does anyone have firm infor (not opinons on what should be) on what the >> legal [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >Jess Interesting, isn't it? Grace > Interesting, isn't it? Just a fact of life we get to deal with. If you want to change it, write a letter to your congresscritter. Jess > Inspired by Prenup thread. > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > relationship if any is? > Grace But... StepParent gets the privilege of helping pay all the legal bills for getting dragged back into court all the time...and helping pay for things for the stepkids when they are with you...and helping pay whatever other medical / sports / BS expenses you get stuck with....cuz you married their BioParent. Collection agencies couldn't care less if they are not your biokids or not, if your spouse doesn't have the money then they'll be more than happy to take yours. That's pretty much all the legal relationship you've got unless you can adopt them. Otherwise if your spouse dies, you might be lucky to ever see them again. ...came out of lurking in a grumpy mood today... >But... >StepParent gets the privilege of helping pay all the legal bills for getting [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >you can adopt them. Otherwise if your spouse dies, you might be lucky to >ever see them again. ...and it gets better. : / When the SKs get to college age, if they apply for financial aid, stepparents are expected to make financial contributions toward their college education. Financial aid requires reporting of not only both bioparents' income but also all stepparents' income and counts it toward how much they think the "family" should be paying. As in most things stepparenting-wise you have plenty of responsibilities but no rights and little (if any) authority, and you're "family" only when it's convenient for everyone else. -Kerri > ...and it gets better. : / Better than your spouse dying and never getting to see your SKs? I need more coffee, I must be missing something. > When the SKs get to college age, if they apply for financial aid, > stepparents [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > "family" > should be paying. Odd. We don't remember seeing any spot for stepparent income. I'll look it up when I'm actually coherent. > As in most things stepparenting-wise you have plenty of responsibilities > but no > rights and little (if any) authority, and you're "family" only when it's > convenient for everyone else. Ya know, I'm getting the impression that you're upset over at not being treated like "family", and not over not having any legal rights as a stepparent. Jess > "Kerri Clair" <kerriclair@aol.comnospam> wrote in message >> ...and it gets better. : / [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > Odd. We don't remember seeing any spot for stepparent income. I'll > look it up when I'm actually coherent. Yes, it's correct that a Step-parents income is included in the calculations. A consideration when remarriage vs. co-habitation comes up for some people. However, only the custodial parents income is reported on the financial aid forms. The NCP's income is not required at all. There is a spot for both Mother's and Father's income, but if you are divorced, you only report the income of the parent that the child resides. The only real sticking point might be if the parents split custody 50/50. That isn't reality for my kids, so I didn't enquire as to what happens at that point. Also, though the SP’s income is included in the calculations, no one can force either a parent or SP to fund a college education against their will (except maybe a judge in some jurisdictions). All it means is the kid will qualify for less (or no) financial aid. Then the family has to decided how much, if any they are able to help out. In my case we had it written right into our divorce agreement how much everyone, including each child is responsible for ahead of time, so there’s no questions when the time came to pay for college who was going to pay for what. <snip>  SignatureCal~ Change me to myself for email :-) >A consideration when remarriage vs. co-habitation comes up >for some people. Yeah, it's a good reason for not getting married. Though one of SD's potential schools had thought of that and wanted my income as well! >The only real sticking point might be if the parents split custody 50/50. >That isn't reality for my kids, so I didn't enquire as to what happens at >that point. You can go either way I believe, though if you're audited they may ask you to justify why you went one way or the other. Love, Melissa "Talking points: they're true because they're said alot." -Jon Stewart >Odd. We don't remember seeing any spot for stepparent income. I'll look it >up when I'm actually coherent. Check out the FAFSA. If the parents are divorced the household with custody gets counted. If there is a custodial step parent their income is put down instead of the other BP. Many private schools have additional forms which require both household incomes which include both BP's and SP's. Love, Melissa "Talking points: they're true because they're said alot." -Jon Stewart >> ...and it gets better. : / > > Better than your spouse dying and never getting to see your SKs? I need > more coffee, I must be missing something. How long has it been since you saw her, Jess? Are you able to keep in contact by phone or letter? Amy > How long has it been since you saw her, Jess? Are you able to keep in > contact by phone or letter? Going on two years, and no. Mom and dad's attorney told me that if I pushed it, she could get me for harassment; there's also the minor fact that we're not entirely sure of the address, and I don't think they have the phone number. I get to wait. Jess |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2010 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.