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LoveHim Asks...

Hello, Is it wrong if i like my half cousin he is my cousins son. we have a connection between us but i just want to know if it is wrong. i think hes the one i want to spend the rest of my life with

Thanks

LoveHim

What we suggest...

Hi LoveHim!

Thanks for contacting q2a with your enquiry.

When you are asking us if it's wrong we guess you mean legally and also possibly how others will judge you. Legally, it is ok to be with him. How do you think your family will react? Or your friends?

Below are the laws about which family members can and cannot marry, this may help you if you encounter any problems with people who don't approve.You might want to show it to people as proof.

If you are talking about wanting to spend the rest of your life with him you may mean marriage. Many people don't marry anyway but with some relationships there is the risk of committing the crime of incest.

What we've put here for you is taken from information created by Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Some relatives are not allowed to marry. If they do marry, the marriage will be automatically void, whether or not the couple were aware that they were related. However, if they did not know they were related, they cannot be found guilty of the criminal offence of incest.

A person can never marry any of the following relatives:-

a child, including an adoptive or former adoptive child
a parent, including an adoptive or former adoptive parent
a brother or sister, including a half-brother or half-sister
a parent's brother or sister, including a half-brother or half-sister
a grandparent
a grandchild
a brother's or sister's, including half-brother's or half-sister's, child.

A person cannot marry any of the following relatives unless both of them are aged 21 or over when they marry and the younger of the two was not, before the age of 18, a child of the other's family:-

a child of a former spouse or civil partner
a former civil partner of a parent or grandparent
a former spouse of a parent or grandparent
a grandchild of a former civil partner or former spouse.

A child of the other's family means a person who:- has lived in the same household as the other person; and whom the other person has treated as a child of her/his family.

An adopted child may not marry her/his genetic parent or genetic grandparent. If s/he does, the marriage will be automatically void, even if the couple do not know they are related.

An adopted child may not marry her/his adoptive parent but is allowed to marry another member of her/his adoptive family, including her/his adoptive brother or sister.

All other relatives may marry. GPs can refer to the Regional Genetic Counselling Centre people who feel they need counselling about the genetic consequences of marrying relatives such as first cousins.

The last paragraph is the one closest to your situation. This is usually is to do with having children and possible risks to them of you being too closely related. If you do begin a relationship you may find talking the issue through with your GP will help.

We hope that things work out really well for you and that this email has made things clearer for you.

Best wishes,

q2a

Expert advice and every precaution has been taken to ensure that the information on this page is trustworthy and reliable, but the publishers do not hold themselves responsible for any inaccuracy as information can go out of date very quickly. This page gives general guidance only and should not be treated as a complete and authoritative statement of the law. With regard to suggested weblinks given in this reply please note that Lancashire County Council is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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