I am divorced with 2 kids age 15, 11. We have not heard or seen from my ex for 7 years, no child support, no contact. I have been seeing my boyfriend for 5 years and he is amazing with the kids, in their eyes he is their father. We are not married but I would like to know if I can give him legal parental rights. For example, taking kids to doctor, making decisions for care, signing things at school, etc. Do we need to be married in order to do this?
Thank you

You may want to talk to a family law attorney. They'd be able to give you the best legal advice.

I was in the exact situation when I was single and decided to move in with my husband, who, at the time, was my boyfriend. I had three teenaged sons and my ex was not very involved in their life. I live in Texas and all I had to do was type up a letter, certified or signed in front of a notary, allowing him the right to pick them up from school, take them to the doctor, make decisions about surgeries in case your not available. You have to be exact in what they can do though. I put that my boyfriend was able to make all medical decisions because it is so broad and I trusted him anyway. I did this for my mother, brother, and sister as well.

I checked with social services/child protective services when I did mine. I was prompted to do it for my mom and sister due to my ex always calling social services all of the time and he kidnapped my children three times. So, I had to include that they could keep my children with them and not release them to anyone, so that if he showed up to get them from somewhere my mom ,boyfriend, and sister could act on my behalf. I have full custody of my children and that paper gives them more power to hold my kids than my ex until I could get off work to get them.

However, You might want to check with an attorney or go to legal websites that specialize in that stuff and check with what is legal in your state.

God bless
Billie