User:Sjb64579

A stepfamily is the family one acquires when a parent marries someone new. For example, if one's mother dies and one's father marries a new woman, that woman is one's stepmother, and any children she already has are one's stepsiblings (if they were fathered by your father, however, they are your half-siblings instead of stepsiblings).

Although Historically Step families are built through the institution of "marriage". ; and legally recognized; it is currently unclear  if a Stepfamily can be   established and recognized by less formal arrangements;  such as when  a man or woman with children cohabits with another  man or woman outside of marriage.

To be sure many such relationships may be fleeting, However just as many may endure. There do appear to some cultures in which these families are recognized socially, but it is unclear as what if any status and protection they have in Law.

However One can easily imagine such recognition in "Common Law " However it has still not been fully decided in "Civil Law". This is particularly gripping question today because the emergence of many new relationships and family structure which are now clamoring for recognition.