Navigating Family Dynamics: Marketing Lessons from Stepparents’ Legal Rights
Understanding the Legal Rights of Stepparents
There’s a reason you hear so much these days about family dynamics and the business world. Humans have a fundamental need to relate to and with one another, to feel included, supported, and part of something larger than themselves. Often, individuals who are outside the norm, who are left out because of societal mores or expectations, are simply not given the level of attention they deserve. This is where the family comes in, even in business relations.
To explain, what we want you to consider, think about what a step parent goes through in the eyes of the law. Stepparents take on the same responsibilities as a biological parent, but without recognition, legal or otherwise. In many families, this means everything from picking kids up from school, to cooking dinner and teaching good manners. The issue, however, arises when the biological parent dies or divorces. Custody arrangements rarely account for the time and care provided by a step parent, leaving them having to file for an adoption or right to visitation.
Unfortunately, even when a step parent takes the steps necessary for legal recognition, they’re often turned away because the child’s biological other parent has no legal precedent to address their parenting and caretaking rights.
This is the conundrum for step parents, but it’s also something that can easily be adapted for the business world and strategizing relations. What’s great about this example, is that it shows how loss impacts legal rulings for those who are most involved in the lives of children.
Let’s take the case of a parent and stepparent who divorced after the separation between the two traditional custodians. She has primary custody of the children, and he-perhaps buoyed by his own regrets-has started a successful business to help support his children, growing it slowly but surely over the last few years. Until now, his business has been run primarily online, managing the reputation and customer interactions needed to keep his earnings high and maintain his custody rights.
But, he soon finds his new wife, another woman with no legal rights to his children, trying to tell him how to run his business. He figures she’s simply trying to ensure her lifestyle before his ex-wife decides to exert herself. But doesn’t she deserve credit for helping him achieve that lifestyle? Doesn’t she deserve some legal rights to the children, even if only for visitation purposes? After all, she helps him pay for the extracurricular activities and vacations they enjoy as a family unit…
Though we approach the situation from a small business and marketing perspective, there are countless ways this scenario applies to familial dynamics. As you may have guessed, the outcome will vary for every family, and somewhere along the way, people will benefit from poor communication and a lack of empathy. For business situations, however, what we see is that the stepping parent is essentially treated as a lead. They have shown interest in the children, and expressed an investment in the relationship. The parent-who falsely perceives himself or herself as the sole caretaker-may feel threatened by other parents who become involved in the process.
Here’s where revenue operations tools like marketing automation and lead management strategies come in to facilitate the transition process, and help everyone-including the client, the couple, and the family as a whole-feel more connected.
What does this mean for you? If you have a client who is facing unusual family dynamics, consider what they could value about your role as their advocate. Highlight what problems you help them solve, what satisfaction you bring, the level of attention and care you give their case, and the ways you fight for their rights. This doesn’t just apply to family law, either-while many people evidence their experiences with these problem scenarios in the context of child custody, those heading into divorce, estate planning, or succession planning are facing the same issues. Finding a legal advisor who they trust should be important to them; and reinforcing that trust and attention with outside communication and marketing automation to stay in touch with them can make a huge difference. According to the in-depth guide on the legal rights of step parents, understanding these dynamics is crucial.
