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Can a half-uncle & half-niece get married in New Mexico?

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timothyc

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? New Mexico

Can a half-uncle & half-niece get married in New Mexico? Can they get married in any state?

To decrease the "grossness" factor (possibly) and actually get a legal answer from you guys, here are more details. We did not know of one another til she was 24 and I was 27. My dad had a child (her mom) from a previous marriage and she became estranged. It wasn't until 36 years later that she found him. So, all weirdness aside, we fell in love. Part of this had to do with not growing up knowing each other as relatives; regardless of the facts, we just don't feel related to one another. Some of our family members are supportive of us and some are not. Despite the challenges, we are in love and want to get married. But, we want to make sure that we do it in a legal way.

I have done a lot of research into the marriage laws of various states. Some states ban uncle/niece marriages and specifically state "of half or full blood". New Mexico (as well as some other states) ban uncle/niece marriages, but says nothing about the half blood relation. Since the letter of the law does not indicate that half blood uncle/niece marriages are banned, does that mean that it is legal for us to marry? They allow cousin marriages, and we share the same blood relation as cousins.
 
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rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
timothyc said:
What is the name of your state? New Mexico

Can a half-uncle & half-niece get married in New Mexico? Can they get married in any state?
Please explain the exact relationship and ages? NM is one of the states that due to low population allowed brothers and sisters to marry, so they may already be very closly related.
Cousin marriages are currently allowed in NM. The marriage license hotline is 505-768-4314 for more information.
 
timothyc said:
What is the name of your state? New Mexico

Can a half-uncle & half-niece get married in New Mexico? Can they get married in any state?
Oh man, I feel the ground rumbling, kinda like the running of the bulls. Or another earthquake. :eek: A friendly note to OP. You may want to duck and cover.
 
rmet4nzkx said:
Please explain the exact relationship and ages? NM is one of the states that due to low population allowed brothers and sisters to marry, so they may already be very closly related.
Cousin marriages are currently allowed in NM. The marriage license hotline is 505-768-4314 for more information.
Aww, Doc, you had to go spoil the fun by giving a sensible answer. :rolleyes:
 

Wolflmg

Member
WANNACRY said:
I don't understand what a half uncle is or a half niece for that matter, please explain

Well it seem sto me that a half uncle would have to be the half brother of his half niece mother or father.
To me the whole thing sounds just wrong in so many ways.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
Wolflmg said:
Well it seem sto me that a half uncle would have to be the half brother of his half niece mother or father.
To me the whole thing sounds just wrong in so many ways.
It's classic New Mexico. I lived there for 6 months, and ran screaming from that...that...place.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
rmet4nzkx said:
It's how the west was won.
As in, everyone just kept going west, to get further away from that horrid mess of a state? ;)
Don't blame 'em. I would've walked a thousand miles at least, lived in a tent, eaten wild berries...whatever. Just don't ask me to go back to NM! :eek:
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
Silverplum said:
As in, everyone just kept going west, to get further away from that horrid mess of a state? ;)
Don't blame 'em. I would've walked a thousand miles at least, lived in a tent, eaten wild berries...whatever. Just don't ask me to go back to NM! :eek:
In some areas, they had several generations of brothers married to sisters, they and to import new blood.
 

rmet4nzkx

Senior Member
I've been thinking about this problem.
Let's say I have an older half brother, we have the same mother and different fathers. My older half brother marries and had children who are about my age, they are my half nieces and nephews. I believe this is the type of situation OP was referring to. I'm not sure however if the niece or nephew were adopted there would be no blood relationship, that might be allowed. If the potential spouse was a cousin, in other words, with grandparents in common that is allowed and actually cousins related to both grandparnets would be closer or as close as the same relationship with a half sibling.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
See, this is why "they" pay you extra! :D

I just got stuck on the whole, "Gross!" part. Then I focused on the "NM sucks!" part. You, meanwhile, tried to actually work on the problem at hand.
 

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