Understanding Stepparents’ Rights Under Colorado Law

Step-parents in Colorado often take on a parenting role for their spouse’s children. In many cases, the step-parent may even refer to the children as their own in daily life. However, the adults legal relationship is to the children’s natural parent, and that does not extend to the children, which can make it difficult to understand stepparents’ rights under Colorado law.

However, the Broomfield family law attorneys at Danielsen Westhoff, PC can help you understand the conditions under which a stepparent may have rights.

The Legal Role of Stepparents in Colorado

While a stepparent does not have inherent rights when they marry a child’s parent, they often take on certain responsibilities that are part of day-to-day living. They may participate in the kids’ extracurricular and school functions or handle parts of discipline as the parents deem appropriate, but without specific legal intervention, the stepparent is unable to make medical or educational decisions for the child, and does not have the right to parenting time or visitation.

If a stepparent wants to be more involved, or regularly acts as the responsible adult for the child, the parents may decide to give them certain permissions to take them to doctors’ appointments or, check them out of school. These allowances can be revoked by the parents at any time.

Stepparent Adoption

Stepparent adoption is one of the more common ways that a stepparent can obtain legal rights to a child. In this case, they will adopt the child as their own, establishing a legal parent/child relationship and all of the rights and responsibilities that come with that. This means that, should the stepparent divorce, they will have rights to visitation, and the same child support obligations as they would for biological kids.

Stepparent adoptions are not always a simple process, as it requires the other parent to surrender their parental rights or have them terminated. While this may be feasible in some situations with an absentee or abusive parent, it is not alwasy an option if the other parent is unwilling to surrender rights or there is no history of abuse or safety concerns.

The Psychological Parent

The concept of a psychological parent refers to an adult who has acted as a primary caregiver for the child, or someone whom the child feels is a parent to them. Chapter 14 of the Colorado Revised Statutes states that a non-parent may petition the courts for custody or visitation if they can show that it is in the child’s best interests.

The Child’s Best Interest

Almost every decision in family court is made with the child’s best interest in mind, and the needs of a child are unique to their situation. You may choose to petition the courts in response to concerns of abuse or neglect. However, maintaining an otherwise safe and stable relationship is also important, and failing to facilitate that can be damaging to the child.

This is not an easy claim to make and win, but with adequate evidence, a step-parent may be able to obtain custody or visitation rights for a child, though the process is similar to that of other non-parent adults. Working with an attorney often yields the best chances of reaching your goal.