A few years ago I married a widow with a son. He was 30 years old and had his own family. He has never lived in our house, I have not abdobted him and I have never been a "father" for him. Is it still right to call him my stepson?
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3 comments
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Jeff, Geni Curator Yes, that is the correct genealogical term.
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Jim Henderson So here's an interesting case. Sadly, my brother's son, Peter, died at 18, of a sudden asthma attack.
Some years later, his parents divorced.
Nearly 30 years later, my brother married someone else, Judith, who is now listed in Peter's profile as his stepmother. Similarly, he is listed as her stepson, although she never met him.
To me, this ties in with the simple definition of a stepmother, a woman who married one's father.
But Peter's mother wrote to me recently, very upset that Judith is listed as Peter's stepmother. She quoted the definition in the Australian family law bill of a a stepparent in relation to a child is interpreted as "a person who is not a parent of the child; and is, or has been married to or a defacto partner of, a parent of the child; and treats, or at any time while married to, or a defacto partner of, the parent, treated the child as a member of the family formed with the parent." By that definition, Peter should not be listed as Judith's stepson.
Is there any option in Geni to have the stepson relationship listed instead as something like "son of current husband"? This would be a great relief to my brother's former wife.
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Jim Henderson Ah, I have found a way to hide the "step" relationship.
For any profiles you can change, look on the Overview tab of the profile page, and in the "Immediate Family" section, click the Edit link on the right-hand side.
This will let you hide the "step" relationship.
This and the reasoning for it are described at
https://help.geni.com/hc/en-us/articles/229703567-Why-are-people-referred-to-as-a-stepparent-or-step-sibling-in-my-family-tree-
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