1. The unhappy marriage of the stepmother
In 1949, the year when New China had just been founded, Tan, as the daughter of a rural village in Zibo, Shandong, was neglected since she was a child. Her parents didn't take her seriously at all and only saw her as a superfluous daughter.
In that patriarchal era, the fate of girls could only be at the mercy of others. Sure enough, when Tan turned 18 years old, her parents comfortably married her to a worker in a neighboring village, and since then her life trajectory has been planned - marry and have children, be an ordinary housewife, and honestly give birth to children to her husband in the future, and teach her husband and children.
In this way, the young Tan was forced to step into the palace of marriage. After marriage, like all rural women, she got up before dawn to do housework and slept late at night.
When her husband comes back from work, she has to serve carefully. Soon, Tan also gave birth to a pair of children as expected.
She thought that her life would be completed in this ordinary housewife life until she grew old.
However, fate makes people, and Tan's life has changed dramatically after her husband's death in a car accident. That year, Tan was busy with the family's meals, and suddenly a neighbor hurriedly ran to say that her husband had been in a car accident.
Tan rushed to the hospital in a panic and saw that her husband was dying. Since then, Tan, who is still in childbearing age, suddenly became a widow, facing two young children alone, and his life suddenly fell into trouble.
Second, the second spring of the stepmother
The sudden death of her husband made Tan's family's life suddenly in trouble. Just when Tan was desperate, fate opened a new door again -- one day in 1992, Tan met Mr. Wang.
Mr. Wang had a similar experience with Tan, and his wife also died of illness, leaving him alone to raise a pair of children. The two fell in love at first sight and sincerely understood each other's painful experiences.
Mr. Wang is gentle and steady, and Tan is also empathetic, and the personalities of the two are very compatible. It didn't take long for them to decide to join hands in the palace of marriage and become legally married.
Remarriage is a huge leap in Tan's life. Mr. Wang not only has a good financial situation, but also takes special care of her and her children. It's a world of difference compared to her ex-husband.
Gone are the days of scarcity in the past, replaced by a life of abundance. After marriage, Tan lived an unprecedented happy life, and her life seemed to have gained new hope.
In the days of the newlywed Yan'er, Tan and Mr. Wang's two pairs of children also got along well. The whole family is happy and lives in a warm atmosphere. Tan finally has a complete and harmonious home, and the husband and wife support each other wholeheartedly and care for each other.
Tan also treats Mr. Wang's children as his own and does his best to take care of their daily life. For a time, the family of six was happy and warm.
3. The true status of the stepmother
After Tan and Mr. Wang got married, the two families ostensibly formed a family of six and lived in a warm and happy atmosphere. However, this superficial harmony did not last long.
Because Mr. Wang's two children have never really regarded Tan and her children as their own family in their hearts.
Mr. Wang's daughter is especially obvious, since Tan married into the family, she has been able to live independently as an adult. Therefore, she did not receive any nurturing grace from her stepmother Tan.
In her heart, Tan is just an outsider and has no blood relationship with her. Mr. Wang's son listened to Tan more because he was still a minor at the time and needed to rely on his family to support him.
But he also has a gap with his stepmother in his heart, and he doesn't regard her as a real mother.
This gap is easy to understand. You must know that Tan is not their biological mother, just a woman who later married their father.
Although Tan is very good to them, there is still a gap between him and his biological mother emotionally. In addition, there are also contradictions between the children on both sides, and this estrangement has quietly formed in the hearts of the two families.
This kind of heart knot is like an iceberg hidden underwater, invisible and invisible, but quietly affecting this home. On the surface, everyone still maintains a situation of harmony.
But cracks have already appeared in this thin shell. Over time, this rift will only grow larger, eventually leading to the rupture of this apparent harmony.
Fourth, the family conflict caused by the pension
After Mr. Wang and Mr. Tan entered the twilight of life, their physical condition was declining day by day and they needed the care of their children. As Tan's biological child, he very consciously took on the responsibility of supporting his parents.
They take the initiative to take care of sick mothers and fulfill their children's obligations. However, Mr. Wang's children showed an extremely cold attitude.
Since Tan has never been regarded as a real family member in his heart, Mr. Wang's children are unwilling to bear any maintenance expenses. Whenever Tan was sick and hospitalized, they came to visit only a handful of times, let alone pay for medical expenses.
This is in stark contrast to the dedicated care of Tan's biological children.
This difference in attitude finally angered Tan, and she decided to take legal action and file a lawsuit in court, demanding that all adopted children, including Mr. Wang's children, must bear the legal obligation of support.
She believes that she deserves to be rewarded for her dedication to this family for so many years, and she deserves to be taken care of by her children. But Mr. Wang's children are extremely resistant to this, because they have never regarded Tan as a family member and believe that they are not obligated to support a stepmother who is not related by blood.
The dispute stemmed from the fact that the family had always been estranged from each other and had not established a strong enough emotional bond. Superficial harmony cannot hide the indifference in the heart.
Now when the parents are old and need to be cared for, the rift is exposed. This is embarrassing, and it also shows us that only by caring for each other can family members truly establish a bond.
5. Analysis of the court's judgment in accordance with law
In the face of Tan's lawsuit demanding the payment of alimony for his children, the court made a fair and reasonable judgment in accordance with the relevant legal provisions after careful trial: Tan's biological children must pay alimony in full, which is their legal obligation as children and cannot be shirked; Mr. Wang's son needs to pay alimony for 2 years because he was still a minor when Tan remarried and enjoyed the support of his stepmother; But Wang's daughter does not have to pay alimony, because she was an adult when Tan remarried, and there is no custody relationship between the two.
The Court's analysis was very detailed and thorough, taking into account both the legal obligations of different children to their parents and the distinctions between them. For Tan's biological children, they have the grace of childbirth, so they naturally have to fulfill the responsibility of support, which is justified.
And Wang's son, as a minor, also enjoys the care of his stepmother, and should bear part of the responsibility for maintenance. However, the king's daughter is already independent and has not received the grace of nurturing, so naturally there is no need to bear the obligation of support.
The court's decision is fully in line with the relevant laws and regulations of the mainland, such as the Marriage Law, which clarifies the responsibility of children to support their parents. It handles complex interpersonal relationships, balances the interests of all parties, embodies fairness and justice, and sets a good example for us to govern and handle cases according to law.
Sixth, the stepmother's tireless dedication
Although Tan's status in this family has not been truly recognized by Mr. Wang's children, this has not affected Tan's dedication and care for this family.
For more than 20 years, she has worked tirelessly to take care of the family, treating Mr. Wang's children as her own and taking care of their daily life with all her heart.
Now that she is old and frail, she also hopes to be rewarded by her children at the last moment of her life, so that she can be happy for the rest of her life. Although she was not the biological mother of these children, her nurturing grace and love for them was indisputable.
She deserves and deserves basic life care, which is the minimum human relationship of a family. Through this case, we see that the harmony of family relations must be based on mutual understanding and love.
Only when each member is willing to think about each other can the family become warmer and happy. Blood ties don't decide everything, it's the bond of hearts that matters. Let's pass on more warmth in our lives and melt away barriers with love.