The girl's father has died and his wife, her stepmother, becomes her legal guardian. When the stepmother remarries, is her husband the girl's stepfather? If not, what is he?
Asked
Active
Viewed 1,055 times
2
-
4From the horse's mouth, so to speak (stepdadding.com) - At some point it becomes a matter of choice – and convenience. What you choose for your kids to call your Stepdad’s wife is entirely up to you and your spouse. There's nothing "legal" about the terminology, and obviously many [step]parents would like to downplay the situation anyway, so it's basically an off -topic "matter of opinion" here on ELU. Also note that Anglophones are far less interested in naming familial / genetic relationships than speakers of many other languages. – FumbleFingers May 16 '21 at 10:53
-
2A step-parent is a non-biological parent married to a biological parent. The second husband of a stepmother is not a step-relation to her stepchildren. He is the 'stepmother's husband'. That's all. – Michael Harvey May 16 '21 at 10:54
-
1@MichaelHarvey I think that should be an answer. I was thinking the same thing, but couldn't verbalise it until I saw your (he) is not a step-relation to her children – Mari-Lou A May 16 '21 at 11:18
-
2I don't think that there is a name for that relationship. English runs out of specific relationship names pretty quickly even when there are 'blood' ties. In the majority of cases like this where the new husband is related to the girl only by two marriages (the girl's father's to the stepmother then the stepmother's to the new husband) most people would end up referring to him by name. Most stepchildren do that for their step-parents anyway. The title only matters when you have to explain your relationship which doesn't happen often and "my stepmother's husband" is concise enough for that. – BoldBen May 16 '21 at 11:35
1 Answers
3
A step-parent is a non-biological parent married to a biological parent. For this reason, if a stepmother's husband, being the natural father of children, dies, and his widow remarries, her later husband(s) are not step-relations to her stepchildren. Such a husband is the 'stepmother's husband'. Legally, and conventionally, that's all.
This does not mean that a child or children cannot call the husband 'Dad', 'Uncle', etc, if they wish.
Step-parent
a parent who is married to the father or mother of a child, but who is not that child's own father or mother.
Michael Harvey
- 12,050