Can I still call my uncle my uncle on a family tree if him and my aunt were never married? They were together for 11 years and had two children together. He just died about a year and a half ago. At his funeral, they called my aunt his fiancee, but they were planning on getting married in the far future, if they ever did. My aunt just doesn’t like marriage. I still call him my uncle. My mom’s boyfriend lives with us, but they aren’t married. His two children live with us, and my brother, and my mom and him had two kids. We’ve all lived together for 3 years. Can I still call him my step-dad on a family tree? I consider him my step-dad. My mom just doesn’t want to get married. They are basically engaged, though, in the same sense as my aunt and uncle were. So can I still call them my step-dad and my uncle on a familly tree?
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follow the blood lines not the legal rules
Actually, the answer to your question is between legality and being a human…
No.. because they are not married…
Yes… because as respect to people older than you..
And as for my personal opinion, you must respect both and you can call them UNCLE.
A family tree isn’t personal, so, your step dad is second partner to your mum and has a place in the family tree because they have children. same as you uncle: he belongs in the family tree because of the children. no existing children and not being married civilly, they are not part of the family tree no matter what your relation to them. but today, a couple that lives together more than X number of years is recognized as civilly married. here, after two years living together, they get rights automatically, as inheritance and such. So you need to determine those laws, and in that case there is a title. life-companion, here.
If you were to enter all your family members into a genealogy software program, such as Family Tree Maker, it would identify the man you call your uncle as “partner of your aunt.” It would identify your mom’s boyfriend as “partner of your mother.” But that’s just the way genealogy programs do it. If you consider this man your uncle, then you can by all means call him that! I have an “uncle” who is actually my mom’s foster brother – no blood or marriage relationship at all – but I consider and call him my uncle, and I call his daughter my “cousin.” The same can go for your mom’s boyfriend. If your relationship with him is a like a step-father, then you can certainly call him that.
I suggest you enter them on the family tree and put a note that they were never legally married. That way if your grandchild gets interested in genealogy, they won’t spend years or decades looking for a marriage/divorce certificate when one never existed.
For generations, some titles (aunt /uncle) have been used as a title of honor. We used to call our mothers friend from childhood “Aunt Hazel” even thought there was no relation what so ever.