Stepchild Custody Lawyer in Santa Barbara

When your spouse already has children with a former spouse or partner, that partner likely still has custody rights over their shared children. Unless your spouse’s ex is deceased or was stripped of custody, they are still the legal parent of the children and have the right to participate in the children’s lives. In many cases, you, as a stepparent living in the same house, have more access and control over the children’s day-to-day lives, but how deep do your rights go? Child custody means having a bundle of legal rights to have the child live in your household and make decisions about important life decisions and day-to-day decisions. While your child lives in your house, you have “physical custody” and the power to control daily decisions, such as what is for dinner and what time the kids will do their homework. “Legal custody” gives you the power to make decisions about your child’s education, healthcare, religion, and other broad categories of life-altering decisions. If you are a stepparent but you have not adopted your stepchildren, your spouse typically has custody, but you do not. This means that you may not have the legal right to make decisions in these kids’ lives, even if you live with them every day.

This system is quite impractical in many cases. The practical effect of letting a stepparent live in the same house as the stepchildren but having no legal rights to make decisions for the child can lead to complicated legal situations. For instance, a stepparent taking their spouse’s child to a doctor’s appointment may not have the authority to sign a release, or a school may need to seek permission from a birth parent rather than the stepparent the child lives with. In some cases, to prevent absurd or awkward outcomes, the court may be able to grant you certain custody rights as a stepparent. Especially if the child spends most of the year in your household, the court may even grant you custody rights over the other parent’s objection, especially if the birth parent has a history of physical abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, or criminal activity. Alternatively, you could seek to adopt your stepchildren. This would allow you to be the legal parent and seek full custody rights that trump the birth parent’s rights and give you the same legal rights as your spouse when it comes to parenting decisions. This is often a vital step in marriages involving young children or blended families.