Also known as: stepchild · step-child · step children · stepchildren · step-children
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A child of the surviving, deceased, or former spouse of the testator or of the donor of a power of appointment, and not of the testator or donor.
Sofia Stern executes a will leaving her estate to her stepchild Seth Shapiro. Seth dies before Sofia, survived by his own children. Because Seth is a stepchild of Sofia, the antilapse statute creates a substitute gift in Seth's surviving descendants.
After Robert Capato's death, his widow seeks survivors benefits for their posthumously conceived twins. The agency treats the twins as Robert's children under federal law even though state intestacy rules would not recognize them as his descendants.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Keith Roberts petitions to modify child support after his divorce from Sarah Sullivan. The court must decide whether Keith owes support for Sarah's child from a prior marriage whom Keith helped raise but never adopted.
No. A stepchild is not a descendant unless formally adopted. When a decedent leaves a surviving spouse but no biological or adopted descendants and no surviving parents, the spouse takes the entire intestate estate.
Antilapse protection applies if the predeceasing devisee is a stepchild of the testator. The statute then creates a substitute gift in the stepchild's surviving descendants unless the will provides an express alternative disposition.
A stepchild is presumptively excluded from a class gift to 'children' unless the will or surrounding circumstances show the testator intended inclusion. Adoption or explicit language overcomes the presumption.
No. Functional or de facto parent-child relationships do not confer intestate or class-gift rights absent adoption or other formal legal recognition.
…needs of the children; (B) extraordinary obligations for minor children or obligations for handicapped children who are not stepchildren and who are not offspring from the marriage or relationship that is the basis of the immediate child support obligation; (C) other court-ordered payments; (D) extended parenting time or…