The short answer to the headline question is yes, you can marry your second cousin in Australia. Some people may be surprised that you can marry your first cousin! In fact, it may shock many people that in Australia there are quite a number of your relatives whom it is legal for you to marry.
In the United States, second cousins are legally allowed to marry in every state. However, marriage between first cousins is legal in only about half of the American states. All in all, marrying your cousin or half-sibling will largely depend on the laws where you live and personal and/or cultural beliefs.
To get married in Australia, you must: not be married. not be marrying a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister.
First cousins have an inbreeding coefficient of 0.0625. Anything at or above 0.0156, the coefficient for second cousins, is considered consanguineous; that includes relationships between people and their nephews and nieces.
Australian law prohibits blood relatives from marrying and this includes adopted as well as natural children. Cousins are not prohibited from marrying one another.
One of the questions people sometimes ask is who they can marry. The short answer to the headline question is yes, you can marry your second cousin in Australia. Some people may be surprised that you can marry your first cousin!
Laws governing the marriage of first cousins vary widely. In 24 states (pink), such marriages are illegal. In 19 states (green), first cousins are permitted to wed. Seven states (peach) allow first-cousin marriage but with conditions.
Second cousins are blood-related because they are the children of first cousins. You share a common great-grandparent.
If first cousins have children, the children are second cousins to each other. They're the same generation because they share a set of great-grandparents. If second cousins have children, the children are third cousins to each other. They're in the same generation because they share a set of great-great-grandparents.
A marriage will not be valid if the parties are in a 'prohibited relationship' (s 23B(1)(b) Marriage Act). A prohibited relationship is one between a brother and sister (including half-blood) or between a person and an ancestor (i.e. a parent or grandparent) or descendant (i.e. a child or grandchild).
Polygamy in Australia is illegal. Polygamy is legal in many African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and usually involves more than one wife. Polygamy is also common in certain religious groups in other countries, such as Mormons in the United States.
Australian law recognises only monogamous marriages, being marriages of two people, including same-sex marriages, and does not recognise any other forms of union, including traditional Aboriginal marriages, polygamous marriages or concubinage.
2 (1) Subject to subsection (2), persons related by consanguinity, affinity or adoption are not prohibited from marrying each other by reason only of their relationship. (2) No person shall marry another person if they are related lineally, or as brother or sister or half-brother or half-sister, including by adoption.
We see no harm in dating your second cousin. It is not against the law, and we assume you are not planning on having children together, so there is no genetic prohibition. Our Biblical ancestors were often married cousins.
Not be related by blood or marriage to a degree that legally prohibits you from marrying each other. If you are related to your proposed spouse by blood or by marriage, you should contact a solicitor to ensure that you do not fall within the prohibited degree of relationship.
The number associated with your cousin has to do with how many generations away your common ancestor is. For example: First cousins share a grandparent (2 generations) Second cousins share a great-grandparent (3 generations)
When cousins are not in the same generation, then we refer to them as 'removed'. For example, 'first cousins once removed' declares that either one of you is one generation away from being first cousins. If your first cousin has children, they are your first cousins once removed.
First cousins share grandparents. Second ones share great-grandparents, third ones share great-great-grandparents, and so on. Add a “great” for each generation away from the common ancestor. Ann and Bea determine that James is Ann's great-great-grandfather and Bea's fourth-great-grandfather.
Immediate family is limited to the spouse, parents, stepparents, foster parents, father-in-law, mother-in-law, children, stepchildren, foster children, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and first cousins.
Remember, first cousins should share 12.5% of their DNA while second cousins should share 3.125%.
Second cousins are, indeed, blood related. You will find that you share DNA with all of your second cousins. We expect second cousins to share an average of 3.13% of DNA with each other, or 233 centimorgans.
The Middle East has uniquely high rates of cousin marriage among the world's regions. Certain Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, have rates of marriage to first or second cousins that may exceed 70%. Iraq was estimated in one study to have a rate of 33%.
A double cousin occurs when two siblings from one family marry two siblings from another family and both couples have children. Those children are first cousins to one another twice over, through both of their parents.
First-cousin marriage is allowed in Japan, though the incidence has declined in recent years. China has prohibited first-cousin marriage since 1981, although cross-cousin marriage was commonly practiced in China in the past in rural areas.