Two families, one of Italian origin the other Spanish, lived in the same housing development in São Paulo, Brazil.
It all started when the Italian family patriarch, widowed with children, decided after a few years marry the eldest single daughter of the Italian family. They had a son.
All well up to now. It turns out that one of the sons of the first marriage of the Spanish family patriarch decided to marry the younger daughter of the Italian family. A little out of the ordinary, but perfectly valid. They had two children. One of them my wife.
That’s when everything got complicated, see…
My mother-in-law’s sister, by virtue of the marriage, is also my wife’s father adopted mother.
My wife’s aunt, my mother-in-law’s sister is also her grandmother. The son of my wife’s aunt (and grandmother) is both my wife’s cousin and half uncle.
The son of my wife’s aunt (and grandmother) had two children who are both my wife’s second cousins and half first cousins once removed.
And I didn’t know any of this when I decided to get married.
Update: I thought the family connections above was complicated, but it does not compare with a letter I found on the internet:
BENEFITS QUESTION
Dear Sir,
I have a very complicated benefits question.
Many years ago, I married a widow out of love, and she had an 18-year-old daughter.
After the wedding, my father, a widower, came to visit a number of times, and he fell in love with my step daughter.
My father eventually married her without my authorization.
As a result, my step-daughter became my step mother and my father became my son in law.
My father’s wife (also my step daughter and my step-mother), gave birth to a son who is my grandchild because I am the husband of my step daughter’s mother.
This boy is also my brother, as the son of my father.
As you can see, my wife became a grandmother, because she is the mother of my father’s wife.
Therefore it appears that I am also my wife’s grandchild.
A short time after these events, my wife gave birth to a son, who became my father’s brother-in-law, the step-son of my father’s wife, and my uncle.
My son is also my step mother’s brother, and through my step-mother, my wife has become a grandmother and I have become my own grandfather.
In light of the above mentioned, I would like to know the following:
Does my son, who is also my uncle, my father’s son-in-law and my step mother’s brother fulfil the requirements for receiving childcare benefits?
Sincerely yours,
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