A stepchild is a child born to or legally adopted by your spouse before your marriage whom you have not legally adopted. If you legally adopt the child, your parent-child relationship is the same as if the child were biologically related to...
marriage
stepparent
A stepparent, including stepfather and stepmother, is a person who marries one’s own parent after the death or divorce of the other parent and therefore has no biological relationship to the child. Stepparents are not legal parents of the...
stepparent adoption
Stepparent adoption is the legal, formal adoption of a child by a stepparent who is married to a legal parent of that child. Stepparent adoption is the most common type of adoption in the United States, with conditions such as voluntary...
Uniform Premarital Agreement Act
Uniform Premarital Agreement Act is a multistate law enacted to enforce consistency in prenuptial agreements from state to state. Based on the applicable laws of that state, not only does the Act allow the relevant parties to choose a...
void marriage
A marriage that was for some reason never valid from the start and cannot be made valid. Common reasons for a court to find a marriage void ab initio are that the marriage is incestuous or polygamous.
Compare with voidable marriage.
voidable marriage
A marriage that is valid until declared invalid. The grounds for invalidation of marriage vary depending on state. Common grounds for voiding a marriage include that one of the parties is below the age of consent, a party was incapable of consenting...
widow
According to 17 USC § 101 a widow is a person whose spouse died during their marriage and has not since remarried. Also known as a surviving spouse.
[Last updated in March of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]
widower
A widower is a person whose spouse died during their marriage and has not since remarried.
[Last updated in May of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]