A wild outta the blue thought just occurred to me. My father, whom I did not live with after the divorce, remarried. She had three daughters. Are they still considered stepsisters. I have actually met 2 of them. At that I would only admit to knowing one of them. So am I reasonably obliged to call them my stepsisters? Or is the term only applied when you wind up having to be brought up together? All of them are from her previous marriage. Not actually related to me by blood. Although Dad’s wife talks as if she gave birth to me. Reality kinda bends around her, Like a bag of pretzels, in a taffy puller. On high speed.
I’m not sure there is a definitive answer.
IMO, you are not *obliged *to call them stepsisters.
IMO, you can reasonably do so if you wish.
IOW, do as you wish.
Your father’s wife is your stepmother, whether you live with them or not. So her daughters are your stepsisters. If she and your father had kids together, they’d be your half-siblings.
*Technically * (legally, maybe?), they *are * your step-sisters. Actually, they’re the daughters of that woman your dad married. 
If your father and your stepmother had had children, they would be your half-brothers and half-sisters.
I do understand Half-bro/sis. Blood relation by one parent. Step sister though, Kinda makes it sound like I had to live with them and be raised by them. I don’t even think they shared my last name. I don’t really have a problem using the term, just that in my mind it implies that I was stuck with them growing up. A female friend has stated that, I should treat them as I would my own sisters. I said,"Hell, no. I am not taking on any more, ‘fix my car’ or ‘my washer is broken’ " My own two full blooded sisters, already keep me busy enough as it is!!
Wait, what? I was with you on the not living with them part making them feel like they weren’t your sisters, but what do names have to do with it? My own son and I don’t share a last name and never have. My stepbrothers (who I did grow up with, more or less) each have a different name not only from me, but from each other, my father and their own mother. My dad and I are the only 2 of the 5 to have the same last name.
Answering the phone in my house was like working for a law firm: “Jones, Smith, Masters and Johnson residence, how may I direct your call?”
You know the saying, 'You can chose your friends, but you can’t chose your relatives"? Well, no-fault divorce has made that obsolete. You can chose your relatives.
If you like them, they are your sisters; if you tolerate them, they are your steps; if you dislike them, they are your father’s step-daughters; if you loathe them, they are your father’s wife’s spawn; if they commit a widely publicized horrendous crime, they are distant relations by marriage (after you have sold your story to the tabloids).
This is what I generally go by. No tabloid offers yet. Is there a legal standpoint where I would have to claim them though?? Mrs. Dad’s wife seems to think so. Haven’t really discussed this with her, but she refers to them as my sisters.((cold shiver))
I don’t think you’ll have to worry about these people claiming you as family for very long.
First daughter, I don’t know at all.
Second daughter is alright. She doesn’t ask for things, she works for them.
Third daughter, Spoiled brat, is putting it lightly. She doesn’t ask for things either. She demands them. 1 and 3 are no loss in my book. I would still be uncomfortable calling #2 stepsister. Probably mostly because of her mom.
You don’t have any kind of legal obligation to your actual sisters, much less your step-sisters. You don’t have to fix their appliances or buy them presents or pay their debts or bail them out of jail if you don’t want to. They are, however, your step-sisters by definition.
Same thing happened to me. I had a hard time saying ‘step brother’ and ‘step sister’ when my dad remarried and I only saw them at Christmas. It’s odd to think of a stranger as a sibling of any type. But then dad and wife got divorced so now they’re my ex step siblings, which is even stranger. I have ex grandparents too. Call them what you want, and don’t sleep with them and everything should be ok.
They are your stepsisters. You have the right to call them whatever you want.
AFAIK a step-relationship has no legal standing, that is, if the rest of your family vanished I don’t think they would be considered next of kin (any lawyers out there?).
I was also in a situation where my dad remarried after my parents divorced and his wife had 4 grown children. The situation was so dysfunctional I can’t explain it in a SDMB post, but in short it has some similarities to your situation.
I used to have two stepsisters and a stepbrother. The stepbrother is dead and I’m not sure I could pick the ex-stepsisters out of a lineup, but while their mom and my dad were married, they were my stepsiblings, no matter how bad I hated it.
Seconded. I have to admit, I originally wondered if the OP started the thread because he was attracted to one of them and wanted to know if following through on that would be incest!
In Spain they’d have the same right as adopted siblings or full siblings, AFAIK. It may vary by jurisdiction, as some things like inheritance law have three different jurisdictions. In the US I’m sure it will vary by jurisdiction.
This stuff gets complicated and you can call them whatever you want.
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My mother remarried to a good man and he is certainly my stepfather and his two sons are my stepbrothers.
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My father remarried and I liked his stepchildren then they got divorced.
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My father remarried again. One stepdaughter I adore, one I never met, and one one was 16 years younger than me. My father and stepmother got divorced a couple of years ago. Here is the capper, the two younger girls still consider my father, their father because their real one died. Even though he and my stepmother are divorced, one of the girls are flying up to see us in a week. I defy anyone to give a name to that relationship.
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My aunt adopted two Chinese kids even though they already had two daughters that I grew up with. I suppose the young girls are my first cousins but I have on;t seen them twice and I am almost 30 years older than the younger one. What is the term for that?
Bingo!
Nope, not interested. Already have a wife.