Can you marry a family member?
Verified 16 January 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
You are not allowed to marry any member of your immediate family, whether it is a relationship (biological or adoptive) or a bond of alliance (created by a marriage).
You can not marry one of the following:
- Your father, your mother, your child, your grandfather, your grandmother, your grandson or your granddaughter
- Your brother or sister
- Your half brother or your half sister
- Your uncle, aunt, niece or nephew.
The situation varies according to whether it is a plenary adoption or a simple adoption.
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Plenary adoption
The prohibitions are the same as in the case of a biological relationship.
You can not marry one of the following:
- Your father, your mother, your child, your grandfather, your grandmother, your grandson or your granddaughter
- Your brother or sister
- Your half brother or your half sister
- Your uncle, aunt, niece or nephew.
Please note
The same prohibitions apply to your family of origin.
Simple adoption
In your adoptive family, you can not marry one of the following:
- Your adopting parent, your adopted child
- Another adopted child of your adopting parent
- Another child of your adopting parent, a descendant of your adopted child
- Your adopted child's former spouse (or Civil partnership partner), your adopting parent's former spouse (or Civil partnership partner).
As a single adopted child, some marriages are also forbidden in your family of origin, to which you continue to belong.
You can not marry one of the following:
- Your father, your mother, your child, your grandfather, your grandmother, your grandson or your granddaughter
- Your brother or sister
- Your half brother or your half sister
- Your uncle, aunt, niece or nephew.
The prohibitions depend on the situation:
Marriage
The covenant is the bond that results from a marriage.
By getting married, you become an ally to everyone who is related to your spouse/husband.
You can not marry the following people:
- Your stepfather (father of your wife/husband), your stepmother (mother of your wife/husband)
- Your son-in-law, your stepdaughter (your daughter-in-law).
In addition, in a blended family, you can not marry the following people:
- Your stepfather (ex-husband of your mother), your stepmother (ex-wife of your father)
- Your son-in-law (son of your ex-wife or ex-husband), your daughter-in-law (daughter of your ex-wife or ex-husband).
These prohibitions persist in the case of divorce or widowhood.
Please note
If the person who created the alliance has died, a derogation may, in certain cases, be granted by the President of the Republic. In practice, it is exceptional.
Civil partnerships
The Civil partnerships: titleContent does not create of a bond preventing a marriage.
However, in the case of simple adoption, you cannot marry your adoptive parent's Civil partnership partner, or your adopted child's Civil partnership partner.
Cohabitation
The cohabitation does not create of a bond preventing a marriage.
Who can help me?
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Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
For more information on this topic, you can contact Allô Service Public.
Attention: the service does not have access to users' personal files and cannot therefore provide information on their status.
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The informants who answer you are from the Department of Justice.
Qualifications and requirements for marriage (Articles 161 to 164)
Marriage impediments
Effects of simple adoption
FAQ
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