Can a person other than a parent have legal decision making?
Yes. The law provides that a person who stands in loco parentis to a child may ask the court for legal decision making or visitation. To be in loco parentis a person must have been treated as a parent by the child and have formed a meaningful parental relationship with the child for a substantial period of time. There are other requirements that must be met before a request may be made to the court. For the child, one of the parents must be deceased, the legal parents must be unmarried, or a court case for divorce or legal separation between the legal parents is pending.
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