Unique Case of Stepparent Owing Child Support to Stepchildren

In Pennsylvania, generally, a stepparent is not liable for child support of his or her stepchildren. The mere existence of a relationship between a child and the stepparent is insufficient to establish a support obligation for the stepparents, even if the stepparent is found to be in loco parentis to the child. The recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court case ofA.S. v. I.S., 2015 Pa LEXIS 3129, 8 MAP 2015 (Pa. Dec. 29, 2015), has sent shock waves through the family law community. However, it is to be noted that the Supreme Court does not appear to want the opinion to send shock waves through the family law community and create “a new class of stepparent obligors” and be interpreted as holding in loco parentis standing alone to be sufficient to hold the stepparent liable for support. Therefore, the A.S. case is not to be broadly applied.

The pertinent facts of the case are as follows: I.S. (the mother) and A.S. (the stepfather) were married in 2005. Prior to the parties’ marriage, the mother gave birth to twin boys in Serbia in 1998. Since 2006, the biological father of the twin boys has not been involved with the children and though there is a Serbian court order ­between the mother and the biological father pertaining to custody and child support, the mother has never sought to enforce child support against the father and the father has not sought to act on his custodial rights. After the parties married in 2005, the mother and the stepfather lived together in Pennsylvania for four years. After the parties separated in 2009, the mother and the stepfather “informally shared physical custody of the children who were about 11 years of age,” the opinion said. The stepfather formally filed for divorce in 2010. In 2012, the mother graduated from law school and took the California bar ­examination planning to relocate to California with the children in September 2012, the opinion said. In August 2012, the stepfather filed a complaint for custody and an emergency petition to prevent the mother from relocating with the children to California and asserted that he stood in loco parentis to the children. On an emergency basis, the trial court granted the stepfather’s emergency petition and prohibited the mother from leaving the jurisdiction with the children.