What legal rights does a step-parent have?

A step-parent is any person who is married to, or in a civil-partnership with the child’s biological parent. Even if the step-parent has been heavily involved in the child’s upbringing and contributes financially, they do not have any legal rights in relation to a step-child. This includes having no legal say in relation to the child’s schooling, medical treatment, religious upbringing, or other big decisions in the child’s life. A step-parent can gain legal rights by obtaining parental responsibility. This can be done with the agreement of all other persons with parental responsibility, or by a court order. If a step-parent and biological parent separate, the step-parent has no automatic right to continue seeing the child (unless they have parental responsibility) in which case they can apply for a Child Arrangements Order.

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