Is this allowed?

Mojisola

frilly_knickers wrote: »

I don't think that the blood line matters, apparently you can't even marry your brothers wife, so there are technicalities.

It used to be against the law but for religious reasons, not genetic ones. This was changed in 1907 - the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act.

I've got several examples in my family history that shows that people sometimes ignored the law prior to that. In times when more young women died in childbirth and from complications afterwards, a man needed someone to look after the family. A quick marriage to a girl he and the children knew well was a simple answer to the problem.

SandC

My grandparents on my mother's side were first cousins.

hazyjo

Re adoptions, it's like you ARE blood related (even though you're not if that makes sense!).

You get a new birth certificate with your (now) parents' names on. You don't have to declare that you were adopted on forms for things like passports, driving licences, etc. You are basically given a new identity.

I can understand why you can't marry a relative - because even though you're not actually blood related, you ARE, for all intents and purposes, and in the eyes of the law, a sister, daughter, whatever.

Jx (adoptee)

LandyAndy

sew_what wrote: »

I'm married to my step brother - we'd been married for 15 years when my widowed Mum married my widowed Father in law.

!

Exactly this. I don't see why people even need to think about the OPs question for more than a second when you consider it like this.


How could a legal marriage be made illegal by another legal marriage taking place?

silvercar

LandyAndy wrote: »

Exactly this. I don't see why people even need to think about the OPs question for more than a second when you consider it like this.


How could a legal marriage be made illegal by another legal marriage taking place?

But that is different to the children marrying first, particularly if they have been step siblings as children.

egoode

You should get advice from CAB as suggested on the link someone posted however I also noticed on that link it had:

"Adopted children may not marry their adoptive parents but they are allowed to marry the rest of their adoptive family, including their adoptive brother or sister."

If adopted children are allowed to marry their adopted siblings then I can't imagine it would be a problem with step siblings marrying. Especially as they were 16 and 18 as far as I can work out when they became step brother and sister but obviously only a specialist advisor can tell you for sure what is and isn't allowed.

hazyjo

egoode wrote: »

"Adopted children may not marry their adoptive parents but they are allowed to marry the rest of their adoptive family, including their adoptive brother or sister."

Arghhh! :eek:

That's so horrible! Didn't know that was fact.

Maybe if one was say 14 when they were adopted. But my sister is my sister, blood or no blood! We've been brought up as sisters (but then I was adopted as a baby). I can't imagine any sort of relationship with a brother if we'd had one! Wrong wrong wrong on so many levels.

Who remembers the Brookside storyline lol! Keep it in the family...

Jx