> > Hi.
> >
> > I am the stepmother of a 6 year old girl. My husband and I are
> > non-custodial but very involved in her upbringing. Stepdaughter, her
> > mother, and mother's boyfriend just moved to another city and enrolled SD
> > in a new school. My question is about emergency contacts. Who has the
> > legal right to approve emergency treatment of my SD? I know my husband
> > and her mother do, but do I?
> >
> > With the mother's boyfriend, she goes around calling the boyfriend SD's
> > stepdad and saying they have a common law marriage - but the boyfriend is
> > still married to someone else so I don't think that's legally possible.
> > So if he's just her boyfriend and not a common-law husband/stepdad, can he
> > approve emergency treatment of my SD?
> >
> > I'm concerned that SD's mother might have just listed herself and her
> > boyfriend as emergency contacts at the school, so I'm concerned that the
> > boyfriend even if reached wouldn't be able to give approval for
> > emergencies so he wouldn't be a reasonable alternate for SD's mother.
>
> 1) In the divorce documents who has guardianship rights? The Mother or is it
> equally shared? Custody and Guardianship are two separate issues and should
> be spelled out in the divorce.
>
> 2) Even marriage (or common law marriage) to a CP does not give the new
> parent any automatic guardianship rights. If your spouse's ex is the child's
> only guardian she may have the right and the power to register her partner
> as a guardian without your spouses permission.
>
> In my case I have/had 50/50 custody and guardianship of my two boys (only

> one is now a minor) and (as I had to point out to my ex) her husband can not
> make life or death decisions for our children now or ever, as I will never
> give him the right! She had put her husband down as the secondary contact at
> the school and I had it changed to me.
>
> John
>
>