How Families Interact With Ex Step-Relatives

When a divorced man with kids marries a woman who also has children, and extended families merge and mingle over the years, it can be hard to decide what to do when the couple splits.  After such a divorce, the relationships of step-relatives often fall into three categories: (1) never claimed, (2) unclaimed or (3) claimed.  

To complicate matters further, many times divorced couples do not agree on whether to continue the relationships with relationships that were born of their marriage.  Or sometimes one person single handedly shoulders the responsibility of maintaining a step-relationship.

Whatever course one decides to take, the decision to nurture former step-relationships should be motivated by genuine love and care for the other person as opposed to attempts to manipulate or anger. 

See Elissa Gootman, (Step)-Family Trees With Tangled Branches, The New York Times, Oct. 3, 2012. 

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.