Does a Stepparent Have Any Legal Rights in Florida?

Becoming a stepparent comes with new challenges and responsibilities, and when you assume your new role as a stepparent, losing your stepchildren is the farthest thing on your mind. But not all relationships last.

During a divorce, it can be immensely challenging to maintain the relationship you’ve built with your stepchildren because you are not legally their parent. This is especially true in Florida, where stepparents do not have legal rights to their stepchildren under the law. These include rights like contact or visitation with their stepchildren or shared custody.

In rare cases, the divorcing spouses can negotiate an agreement for visitation and custody, but this will have no legal foundation, which means that the legal parent can opt to renege on the agreement without any reason. Unless you have legally adopted your stepchild, which makes you their legal parent, you will have no legal rights to your stepchild.

How Stepparents Can be Granted Legal Rights to Their Stepchildren

As stated, you can only be granted legal rights as a stepparent if you have legally adopted your stepchild. To adopt your stepchild, you must be legally married to their legal parent. You must file the adoption petition with your spouse. Your petition must include the child’s place of birth, birthdate, your relationship with the child, and your reasons for seeking an adoption.

You must then notify your stepchild’s other parent (other than your spouse) about your intent to adopt the child. The other parent must consent to your petition before the court can order your stepchild’s adoption and issue the child a new certificate of birth with you as their legal parent and grant you full parental rights.

But adoptions are rarely straightforward. If your stepchild’s other parent doesn’t consent to the adoption, you will be facing an uphill battle. But this doesn’t mean that you are out of options. You can consider seeking the termination of the other parent’s parental rights if they don’t consent to the adoption. However, courts are usually reluctant to terminate parental rights because the law provides strict protections to parent-child relationships.

But if the court finds that the other parent has abandoned or deserted your stepchild, is incompetent or unfit to be a parent, or there are certain circumstances that are not in the best interests of the child, it may terminate the parental rights of the other parent.

Once terminated, you may continue with the adoption process, and the court will order the adoption of your stepchild. After being granted an adoption, the court will give you legal rights to your stepchild. In the unfortunate event that you separate or get a divorce, you can negotiate or fight for child custody, visitation, or support, depending on the circumstances.