MICHIGAN (NEXSTAR) – Can first cousins legally marry in Michigan? While the topic may be taboo to some readers, the answer may surprise you.
Marriage between cousins was considered a common practice for those entrenched in the same communities throughout several generations, as once detailed in an Inside Edition report. One of the most famous examples, the website notes, was President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, who were fifth cousins once removed.
It’s also widely known that Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin married their first cousins.
However, Michigan has its own rules regarding the practice: The law clearly states it is illegal to marry first cousins.
On the same topic, it is also illegal to marry these members of your family in Michigan:
- Mother
- Sister
- Grandmother
- Daughter
- Granddaughter
- Stepmother
- Grandfather’s wife
- Son’s wife
- Grandson’s wife
- Wife’s mother
- Wife’s grandmother
- Wife’s daughter
- Wife’s granddaughter
- Brother’s daughter
- Sister’s daughter
- Father’s sister
- Mother’s sister
Unlike first cousins, other, more distant cousins are allowed to marry, since the law only restricts marriages between first cousins. This means Michiganders could marry a first cousin once removed, second cousin, third cousin, fourth cousin, and so on.
Dr. Hanan Hamamy, a professor of human genetics at Switzerland’s Geneva University, has cited the increased risk of autosomal recessive genetic disorders and congenital malformations between consanguineous marriages as evidence that children born from blood relatives (who are second-cousins or closer) may suffer adverse health effects. Those marriages contain two blood-related individuals who are second cousins or closer.
