## Facts

- In 1998, I.S. gave birth to twin sons in Serbia.
- In 2005, I.S. married A.S., making A.S. the children’s stepfather, and the family moved to Pennsylvania.
- A.S. and I.S. raised the children together until 2009, when the parties separated.
- After separation, the parties informally shared physical custody of the children.
- In 2010, A.S. filed for divorce, and the parties reached a custody arrangement; I.S. later engaged in what the court described as “contemptuous” conduct relating to that arrangement.
- In 2012, after graduating from law school, I.S. planned to relocate to California with the children.
- A.S. filed a custody complaint and sought an order preventing I.S. from leaving the jurisdiction with the children.
- In the custody litigation, the court found A.S. stood *in loco parentis* to the children.
- The court awarded A.S. shared legal custody and shared physical custody and prohibited either party from relocating with the children without the other’s permission.
- After the custody order, I.S. filed a complaint seeking child support from A.S.
- The trial court dismissed I.S.’s support complaint, reasoning that stepparents such as A.S. were not obligated to pay child support and noting that A.S. had not claimed to be, or held himself out as, the children’s biological father.
- I.S. appealed the dismissal of her support complaint.

## Issues

1. Whether a stepfather who has been found to stand *in loco parentis* and who obtained shared legal and physical custody may be required to pay child support for the children.
2. Whether equity permits imposing a support obligation on a non-biological, non-adoptive stepparent who pursued and received custodial rights comparable to those of a legal parent.

## Decision

- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of I.S.’s child-support complaint and remanded for further proceedings.
- The Court held that, in these circumstances, a stepparent who affirmatively sought and obtained custody rights as a parent through *in loco parentis* standing may be required, on equitable grounds, to assume a corresponding child-support obligation.
- The Court treated the result as limited to the posture presented: a stepparent who went to court to secure substantial parental authority over the children.

## Legal Principles

- A stepparent generally has no child-support duty solely from marriage to the child’s parent; support duties ordinarily arise from legal parent status (such as biology or adoption).
- *In loco parentis* refers to a person who assumes parental status and discharges parental duties, and it can confer standing to seek custody.
- When a person voluntarily invokes *in loco parentis* to obtain custodial rights and decision-making authority comparable to a parent’s, equity may bar that person from later denying the reciprocal obligation to support the child.
- A court may look to the nature of the rights sought and obtained in custody litigation—such as shared legal custody, shared physical custody, and the ability to block relocation—in evaluating whether fairness requires a support order.

## Conclusion

A.S. v. I.S. holds that, although stepparents are not ordinarily liable for child support, a stepfather who established *in loco parentis* status and obtained shared legal and physical custody through litigation may, as a matter of equity, be required to pay child support, and the case was remanded for determination of an appropriate support award.


A.S. v. I.S., 634 Pa. 629 (2015)