I have never heard of such a subtle difference between "I have got a family" and "I have a family" which seem quite interchangeable to me. Today I learnt that these two sentences have different meanings ("have got" is considered to be present perfect in this use):
I have got a family. = I have recently acquired a family (=my family is
young).
More examples:
I have a car. = I bought my car long go and have been using it ever
since.
I have got a car. = I have recently bought a car.
I have got a cat. Do you see these fresh scratches on my hands?
This difference can be critical for translation so I would like to know if it is really crucial and these two sentences don't have the same meaning.
Best Answer
As a native speaker, I would not necessarily understand
to mean
in your example got is an intensifier emphasizing the fact that you have a family or any age. It's possible the person who told you this was themselves young and had a young family.
Can mean "Recently, I acquired a car." depending on additional context, but "I have got a car" does not. Using got this way is very idiomatic which is usually not used when describing a family, since one does not go out and "get a family" like one goes out and "gets a cat".