Former partners, still related

This article contributes to understandings of post-separation family life by rethinking ex-couple relationships as continuing kinship ties. Unlike most of the literature, the article delves into the endurance of a post-separation relationship even in the absence of shared children, health crisis or other critical life-cycle events that could justify this bond. Through qualitative research based on 26 in-depth narrative interviews with both partners of ex-couples, the article depicts how kinship is done in a fluid and creative way, from the variety of daily routines to the deepest sense of identity and meaning. This article argues that separation could produce significant patterns of social continuity that could be further analysed in terms of kinship, despite its formal end, broadening the relevance of the concepts of voluntary kinship and family practices to various social relationships

Fictive kinship · Identity (music) · Kinship · Narrative · Qualitative research · Relevance (law) · Variety (cybernetics) · Child Welfare and Adoption · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving