Siblings, cousins, uncles, in-laws
Degrees of kinship in Romania, counted on the family tree
Pick anyone on the tree. The thread climbs from you to the ancestor you share and comes down to that person; every knot on it is one birth, and the number of births is the degree of kinship under the Romanian Civil Code. A first cousin comes out at the fourth degree, a brother or sister at the second, the same as a grandparent.
Your first cousin
Related in degreeIV
collateral line
From you you climb two births to your grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down two births to your first cousin: 2 + 2 = degree IV.
- MarriageForbidden, but in the fourth degree the guardianship court may allow it for good reason, on a special medical opinion (art. 274).
- Inheritance without a willClass IV, the last: inherits from you only if nobody in the first three classes does.
- Witness in a civil trialThe relationship does not stop them being a witness.
- Public procurementBeyond the second degree, Law 98/2016 no longer names the family tie; only the general rule on any personal interest remains.
How is the degree of kinship counted?#
The Romanian Civil Code counts births. In the direct line, from parent to child, each generation is one degree: children and parents are related in the first degree, grandchildren and grandparents in the second.
Collateral relatives share only an ancestor. Their degree is found by climbing from one of them to that ancestor and coming down to the other, counting every birth on the way. The Code gives the examples itself: siblings are related in the second degree, an uncle or aunt and a nephew or niece in the third, first cousins in the fourth (art. 406).
That is why a sibling and a grandparent are both second degree, by different paths: to a sibling you climb one birth, to your parents, and come down one; to a grandparent you climb two. It also means there is no first degree in the collateral line: the closest collateral relative is a brother or sister.
Table of degrees of kinship#
Everyone on the tree, seen from you, with the path that is counted. In-laws take the degree of the relative they come through.
| Who | Degree | Line | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your parents | I | direct line | From you you climb one birth to your parents. |
| Your child | I | direct line | From you you go down one birth to your child. |
| Your brother or sister | II | collateral line | From you you climb one birth to your parents, whom you both descend from, then go down one birth to your brother or sister: 1 + 1 = degree II. |
| Your grandparents | II | direct line | From you you climb two births to your grandparents. |
| Your grandchild | II | direct line | From you you go down two births to your grandchild. |
| Your great-grandparents | III | direct line | From you you climb three births to your great-grandparents. |
| Your uncle or aunt | III | collateral line | From you you climb two births to your grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down one birth to your uncle or aunt: 2 + 1 = degree III. |
| Your niece or nephew | III | collateral line | From you you climb one birth to your parents, whom you both descend from, then go down two births to your niece or nephew: 1 + 2 = degree III. |
| Your great-grandchild | III | direct line | From you you go down three births to your great-grandchild. |
| Your first cousin | IV | collateral line | From you you climb two births to your grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down two births to your first cousin: 2 + 2 = degree IV. |
| Your great-uncle or great-aunt | IV | collateral line | From you you climb three births to your great-grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down one birth to your great-uncle or great-aunt: 3 + 1 = degree IV. |
| Your grandniece or grandnephew | IV | collateral line | From you you climb one birth to your parents, whom you both descend from, then go down three births to your grandniece or grandnephew: 1 + 3 = degree IV. |
| Your first cousin's child | V | collateral line | From you you climb two births to your grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down three births to your first cousin's child: 2 + 3 = degree V. |
| Your parent's first cousin | V | collateral line | From you you climb three births to your great-grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down two births to your parent's first cousin: 3 + 2 = degree V. |
| Your second cousin | VI | collateral line | From you you climb three births to your great-grandparents, whom you both descend from, then go down three births to your second cousin: 3 + 3 = degree VI. |
| Your parents-in-law | I | related by marriage (affinity) | Your parents-in-law are your spouse's parents, related to your spouse in the first degree. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your step-parent | I | related by marriage (affinity) | A step-parent married your mother or father, related to you in the first degree. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your son-in-law or daughter-in-law | I | related by marriage (affinity) | Your son- or daughter-in-law married your child, related to you in the first degree. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your stepchild | I | related by marriage (affinity) | A stepchild is related in the first degree to your spouse, the child's parent. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your spouse's brother or sister | II | related by marriage (affinity) | Your spouse's brother or sister is related to your spouse in the second degree. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your brother's wife or your sister's husband | II | related by marriage (affinity) | Your sibling's spouse married your brother or sister, related to you in the second degree. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your aunt's husband or your uncle's wife | III | related by marriage (affinity) | Your aunt's husband married your aunt, related to you in the third degree. A spouse's relatives are the other spouse's in-laws, in the same degree (art. 407). |
| Your husband or wife | Spouses: neither relatives nor in-laws | no kinship in law | The Civil Code counts spouses neither as relatives nor as in-laws; the laws that concern them name them separately, as below. |
| Your spouse's sibling's husband or wife | Neither a relative nor an in-law | no kinship in law | Your spouse's sibling's spouse married your in-law. Affinity goes no further: between the two of you there is neither kinship nor affinity. |
Is a second cousin related in the second degree?#
No. "Second" counts the generations up to the shared ancestor; the legal degree counts births. First cousins share grandparents: two births up and two down, the fourth degree. Second cousins share great-grandparents: three up and three down, the sixth degree.
The difference matters. In the fourth degree, first cousins can inherit from each other if no closer relative does, and can marry only with a court's leave. In the sixth degree, second cousins fall outside both rules. A first cousin's child is in the fifth degree: one generation lower is one more birth.
What degree are in-laws: parents-in-law, brothers- and sisters-in-law?#
In-laws are not relatives in Romanian law: they are "afini", relatives by affinity. The Civil Code joins a spouse to the other spouse's relatives, in the same degree those relatives hold to the spouse they are related to (art. 407): parents-in-law are in-laws of the first degree, brothers- and sisters-in-law of the second, an aunt's husband of the third. It works both ways: your brother's wife is your in-law, and you are hers.
Affinity stops after one step. Spouses are neither relatives nor in-laws of each other. Your spouse's brother's wife is nothing to you in law, though families call her a sister-in-law too; the same goes for the parents of your child's spouse, whom Romanian calls "cuscri".
The words for these ties, and how other languages say them, are on Everyone is related.
Where the degree matters: marriage, inheritance, witnesses, tenders#
| Rule | Up to which degree | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage is forbidden | relatives in the direct line, in any degree; collateral relatives up to the fourth degree, and in the fourth a court may allow it | Civil Code, art. 274 |
| Inherit without a will | descendants and ancestors, in any degree; collateral relatives up to the fourth | Civil Code, art. 963 |
| Cannot be witnesses in a civil trial, as a rule | relatives and in-laws up to the third degree; also a spouse, former spouse, fiancé(e) or partner. The parties may still agree to it; in cases on filiation, divorce and other family relations they may be heard, except descendants | Code of Civil Procedure, arts. 315–316 |
| Potential conflict of interest in a public tender | the person checking or evaluating the bids is the spouse, a relative or an in-law up to the second degree of someone in the management of a bidder, candidate, supporting third party or proposed subcontractor | Law 98/2016, art. 60 |
Inheritance without a will goes by classes: first children and their descendants; then parents, together with siblings and siblings' descendants; then grandparents and other ancestors; last, uncles and aunts, first cousins and great-uncles and great-aunts. A class inherits only if nobody in the class before can or will inherit. Within a class, as a rule, the closer degree excludes the further (art. 964), with the exceptions the law makes: by representation, the children of an heir who died before the deceased take that heir's place (art. 965), and parents inherit together with siblings and their descendants (arts. 976–978). The surviving spouse inherits alongside any class (art. 971). The shares depend on who is still alive and who accepts; they are set in articles 972–983.
When a form asks for relatives "up to the second degree", the count is the same: parents, children, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren are in; uncles and cousins are not. In-laws are in only if the text names them.
Adoption: the adopted child becomes related to the adoptive family#
Adoption creates a civil kinship: the child becomes related to the adopter and to the adopter's relatives (arts. 451 and 470), and the degrees are counted as in a family by blood.
Ties with the birth parents and their relatives end. When the spouse of a parent adopts, the child stays related to that parent and that parent's family (art. 470). The marriage ban holds in both families: between those who became relatives by adoption and between those whose birth kinship ended (art. 274).
Sources#
- Romanian Civil Code (Law 287/2009, republished), arts. 274, 405–407, 451, 470, 963–983, consolidated text on the Ministry of Justice legislation portal (in Romanian). legislatie.just.ro
- Code of Civil Procedure (Law 134/2010, republished), art. 315, consolidated text (in Romanian). legislatie.just.ro
- Law 98/2016 on public procurement, art. 60, consolidated text (in Romanian). legislatie.just.ro
The statutes were checked on 16 October 2026 in their consolidated form; the 2026 amendment of the Civil Code (Law 57/2026) does not touch these articles. Next check: April 2027. The page explains how the degree is counted and where each law draws its line; a particular estate or case also turns on civil-status records, any will and who is still alive.