familyMember

Family member is a person who belongs to a family unit, connected by blood, marriage, or adoption. The term is used in legal, social, and genealogical contexts to identify individuals who share kinship ties with another person.

In common usage, immediate family includes parents, siblings, spouses, and children; extended family includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws. Cultural norms influence who is considered a family member; some cultures include multiple generations under one household, while others emphasize blood relations.

Legal and practical aspects vary: rights and responsibilities such as inheritance, guardianship, and decision-making may depend on jurisdiction and relationship type. Adoption creates legal family ties, while foster or step-relations may be recognized differently. In data and administration, familyMember is commonly used as a field to indicate a person related to another, often paired with a relationship type (parent, child, spouse, sibling). In genetics and anthropology, kinship describes biological connections and social bonds among family members.

See also: genealogy, kinship, next of kin.