(Step)-Family Trees With Tangled Branches

What Happens When Divorce Breaks Up Step-Families?

Here's a not-so-uncommon predicament: A divorced man with kids marries a woman who also has children. At the wedding, their respective constellations of relatives — siblings, parents — get to know one another. Over the years, they start to bond as an extended family. Homes are shared for weekend and holiday visits. Gifts are exchanged, relationships forged.

Then the couple splits.

Suddenly these step-relatives, unbound by biological or legal ties, are former step-relatives, left to puzzle over the sorts of questions that can require a whiteboard to explain.

Popular in the Community

Close

HuffPost Shopping’s Best Finds

MORE IN LIFE