Step-parents rights?

[beststepmomever]

Dear Soc,

Do I as the stepmother have any rights to my stepchildren if anything happens to my husband/their father?

Is there any paperwork that can legally make it so?

Thanks ahead of time :)

[socrateaser]

>Dear Soc,
>
>Do I as the stepmother have any rights to my stepchildren if
>anything happens to my husband/their father?

You can petition the probate court, after your husband's death, for visitation/custody rights, based upon demonstrating the existence of an established parent-child relationship that is in the child's best interests to continue.

>
>Is there any paperwork that can legally make it so?

No. Your husband's Will can state his preference of a guardian, however the other parent has presumptive right to custody that you must overcome, regardless of your husband's testamentary wishes.

If there is no other parent (due to death, abandonment, parental termination of rights, etc.), then you would have the edge in obtaining legal custody.