What is my husbands, sister's husband to me? In other words my sister-in-law's husband? I thought he was a brother-in-law?
What is my husbands, sister's husband to me? In other words my sister-in-law's husband? I thought he was a brother-in-law?
16 Answers
Your spouse's siblings are your cuñados. Their spouses are your concuñados.
Though I respect the answers of Tosh and qfreed and acknowledge that we all tend - out of affection or civility - to call our in-law's spouses our in-laws too, it is not technicall/legally accurate.
http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/legal-definition-of-brother-in-law-20578.html Is the husband of one's sister-in-law, a brother-in-law?
Though that is the usage commonly. Legally no. They only have an affinity at common law.
Assume "A" and "B" are Brother and Sister and both are married. The "A"'s wife, is a sister in law to the "B", and "A" is a brother in law to "B"'s husband, but "A"s wife and "B"s husband are not related and only have a legal affinity between each other. Barring a law to the contrary, there is thus no legal relationship.
Q says:
I would like to see some sources saying that these people are not brother and sisters-in-laws other than just stating a personal opinion. I've seen errors in online definitions before, but someone provide a source backing up their explanation.
I don't know about English in-law relationships; extended family somehow is not as important in the Anglic cultures as it is in Latin cultures, I guess.
But the DRAE has a definition for "concuñados" which should be satisfactory:
concuñado, da. (De con- y cuñado). 1. m. y f. Cónyuge de una persona respecto del cónyuge de otra persona hermana de aquella. 2. m. y f. Hermano o hermana de una de dos personas unidas en matrimonio respecto de las hermanas o hermanos de la otra.
Sorry, qfreed. Didn't mean to step on anybody's feelings.
The original poster asked, "I thought he was a brother-in-law?" To me this imples that she used the term "brother-in-law" or "cuñado" when referencing her husband's sister's husband and was told she was wrong which caused her some confusion. I'm simply explaining why someone would tell her that.
Some of us don't call our spouse's sibling's spouses "in-laws" - and we don't have to.
Some of us would never refer to our step-father as our father, by the way. That's a term of affection that must be earned. I call my step-father by his first name and always refer to him as "my step-father" or "my mother's husband." Never "father."
A brother-in-law (plural brothers-in-law) is
1) the brother of one's spouse,
My sister is my wife's sister-in-law.
2) the husband of one's sibling,
My sister has a husband. He is my brother-in-law.
3) or the husband of one's spouse's sibling. (answer to original question)
All of these people are of the same generation considering parents/children.
There is no word for this in Spanish or in English. You might call him your "brother-in-law", but the husband of your sister-in-law is technically no relation of yours at all. He is "the husband of your sister-in-law."
What is my husbands, sister's husband to me? In other words my sister-in-law's husband? I thought he was a brother-in-law?
Wait!
Are you from the south? 
There is no legal relationship btw 2 people who marry siblings.
What if my sister married my wife's brother?
There is no word for this in Spanish or in English. You might call him your "brother-in-law", but the husband of your sister-in-law is technically no relation of yours at all. He is "the husband of your sister-in-law."
I disagree.
My sister has a husband.
He is my brother-in-law.
My sister is my wife's sister-in-law.
My sister's husband is my wife's brother-in-law.
He is also my daughters' uncle.
What about my wife's ex-husband's brother?
It has always been my understanding that the husband of my wif'e sister is simply that and is in no way related legally to me thus not my brother-in-law and if you knew the brother of my sister-in-law you would not want to acknowledge him as a relative either.
He is...
Tu cuñado o tu hermano en ley.
@qfreed
Most online legal dictionaries, such as the one at freedictionary.com, use the narrower definition, while most regular dictionaries use the broader one as well as saying that "affinity" is indicated by adding "-in-law" to the end of the relation.
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think many legal rights or obligations are usually assigned (or whatever the appropriate legal term might be) to in-laws, so I don't really see much logic behind this distinction.
The party of the first part, herein and hereafter referred to as the party of the second part, shall bear no responsibility, express or implied, for the opinions expressed in this post, nor for the consequences of any subsequent action hence engendered. Furthermore, there is no warranty of fitness for use for any purpose, intended or not.
A different source defining brother-in-law. See definition 3. I don't think that these are legal definitions, but defining how the term is generally used.
- The brother of one's spouse.
- The husband of one's sister.
The husband of the sister of one's spouse.
definition 3 of a brother-in-law is the sister-in-law's husband.
I would like to see some sources saying that these people are not brother and sisters-in-laws other than just stating a personal opinion. I've seen errors in online definitions before, but someone provide a source backing up their explanation.
So sorry. I was wrong in my previous post. In Spanish there does seem to be a specific word to describe your sister-in-law's husband. I'm told that one can use either "concuño" or "concuñado". There is no equivalent specific word for this in English.
