# Young married couples single inlaw parents hook up with each other. Illegal or just oogy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143 "2009-11-19T14:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/1 "2009-11-19T14:21:58Z")
If a young married couple’s single parent in laws are introduced to each other. Say the married husband’s (single or divorced) mother and the married wife’s (single or divorced) father and these single in-law parents take a shine to each other and start having a physical relationship, is this illegal in any way? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/2 "2009-11-19T14:23:37Z")
How in the world would that be illegal? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/3 "2009-11-19T14:26:00Z")
Neither. Odd, but not particularly icky, and there’s no aspect of it that suggests illegality. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/4 "2009-11-19T14:29:43Z")
IANAL, but based on the fact that a [pair](http://www.suncommercial.com/articles/2009/10/30/entertainment/doc4ae102c98c7ef372855400.txt) of [siblings](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5270314/Sisters-marry-brothers-on-the-same-day.html) can marry another [pair](http://www.bostonimages.com/blog/2009/07/30/ryoko-gordon-mariko-shotaro-twin-sisters-marry-brothers/) of [siblings](http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/10/30/two-sisters-marry-two-brothers/), I can’t imagine that it would be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/5 "2009-11-19T14:32:49Z")
Thought experiment: Say a pair of divorcees with children are friends… no romance. And the **kids** are introduced to each other and hit it off. I would suppose you’d have no problem with this scenario? Now, let’s go another step and assume the parents **are** romantically involved, and the kids become an additional pair. Still not a problem, right…? So why does the order in which the pairs got together even matter? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/6 "2009-11-19T14:39:13Z")
That is exactly what happened with my grandparents. My mother’s father and my father’s mother were both widowed. Then my parents got married, and a few years later my one pair of grandparents married each other. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/7 "2009-11-19T14:45:14Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > Thought experiment: Say a pair of divorcees with children are friends… no romance. And the **kids** are introduced to each other and hit it off. There’s an anime and manga series called [Marmalade Boy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmalade_Boy) that goes even further with such a thought experiment. The central characters (girl Miki and boy Yuu) are unrelated, but at the start of the story their parents both divorce, and marry the partner from the other marriage. That is, Miki’s mother marries Yuu’s father, and Miki’s father marries Yuu’s mother. Then the six all live together in a large house – and, of course, eventually Miki and Yuu get romantically interested in each other, though not without the complication of numerous live triangles. It’s odd, but no one is marrying anyone who is a close relation, even if Miki and Yuu are double step-siblings. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/8 "2009-11-19T14:47:30Z")
[banjo music] ---
**Author:** ![Drygon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Drygon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drygon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/9 "2009-11-19T14:50:07Z")
Nothing illegal or oogy about it. It would just be slightly unusual situation. My dad had something different but I think just as weird happen in his family. His parents divorced when he was younger and his mom married again quickly. His father then married the ex-wife of his step-father about a year after that. ETA: This reminds me of a [song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYlJH81dSiw) I listed to when I was younger. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/10 "2009-11-19T14:55:05Z")
I don’t think it’s oogy at all, and if it’s illegal anywhere other than Bronze Age Palestine, it shouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/11 "2009-11-19T15:02:27Z")
Seems kind of nice, doesn’t it? Frankly, it sounds like one of those Lifetime movies that _doesn’t_ make a person want to jump off a bridge. My friend has a funny looking family tree due to such a situation. Divorced parents with kids married each other and later the stepkids married - like if Marcia and Peter Brady got hitched. That situation is possibly a bit weirder given that the kids grew up together. No incest, no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/12 "2009-11-19T15:07:16Z")
So when Greg and Marsha hooked up, that’s still cool, right? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/13 "2009-11-19T15:12:55Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > So when Greg and Marsha hooked up, that’s still cool, right? To my horror, I must admit that I know that you mean _Marcia_. Anyway, the two eldest Brady kids only hooked up that noe time, at prom. Marcia was always more interested in Jan, which is why they married two obviously gay men and immediately moved into the same house together. They were all each other’s beards, though obviously the blondes had more to hide. I’d explain how Cindy fits into this tawdry, but you’re not old enough. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/14 "2009-11-19T15:15:49Z")
My former boss met her husband first, then his widowed father and her widowed mother hit it off, and married as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/15 "2009-11-19T15:16:23Z")
> [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > IANAL, but based on the fact that a [pair](http://www.suncommercial.com/articles/2009/10/30/entertainment/doc4ae102c98c7ef372855400.txt) of [siblings](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5270314/Sisters-marry-brothers-on-the-same-day.html) can marry another [pair](http://www.bostonimages.com/blog/2009/07/30/ryoko-gordon-mariko-shotaro-twin-sisters-marry-brothers/) of [siblings](http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/10/30/two-sisters-marry-two-brothers/), I can’t imagine that it would be a problem. I have two cousins who are siblings (brother and sister) who married another set of siblings (again, brother and sister) - the two guys were friends, the two girls were friends, then they each started checking out their friend’s sibling. Frankly, the only problems I can see, besides the difficulty in describing the situation without confusing someone who doesn’t know them, is that if you hate your inlaws you’re really out of luck! I’m sure it makes family holiday get-togethers easier to plan, though. I wouldn’t find the OP’s situation oogy. Oogy would be your single parent trying to hook up with the sibling of your spouse. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/16 "2009-11-19T15:19:58Z")
While I don’t know any couples that fit the scenario, it doesn’t seem all that improbable to me or even the slightest bit “oogy.” Think about it; you and your partner developed a common attraction so what’s unusual about half of what made you being attracted to half of what made him/her? Look at the bright side. Come Christmas, you’ve just got to buy 2 presents for your Mom, your Stepmother and your Mother-in-Law. 1. Parents divorce. 2. In-laws marry. 3. Profit! ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/17 "2009-11-19T15:22:00Z")
That situation doesn’t seem oogy to me. It could be wierd if it were reversed, if the parents partnered up first and the children were still young enough to live at home together. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/18 "2009-11-19T15:29:18Z")
It happened in _Drive Me Crazy_ (only without the kids being married), and Melissa Joan Hart’s character seemed to find it quite oogy. What? Yes, I watched it. And I _liked it_! Eat me, haters! ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/19 "2009-11-19T15:43:33Z")
It sorta happened to me. We weren’t married, though. You see, when my parents split up, my mother immediately began dating this guy who was a bit of a jerk (why do women love jerks?!). I resented this, of course, because my dad had been replaced. Ahhh…but I had a way to get even. He had an attractive, slutty daughter. So I guess you could say I stuck it to him by sticking it to her. Repeatedly. This wasn’t the oogy part, though. The oogy part was that my (blood) brother executed the same plan. Repeatedly. True story. > [@Giles](#): > > There’s an anime and manga series … numerous \*\*live \*\*triangles. I’m imagining a bunch of 50-foot tall triangles marauding around downtown Manhatten, stomping people and knocking over buildings. “I am almightly Isosceles! Bow before me!” ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143/20 "2009-11-19T15:51:04Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I’m imagining a bunch of 50-foot tall triangles marauding around downtown Manhatten, stomping people and knocking over buildings. “I am almightly Isosceles! Bow before me!” Almost right – it’s downtown Tokyo, of course, where live triangles are just an accepted part of life and love. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-married-couples-single-inlaw-parents-hook-up-with-each-other-illegal-or-just-oogy/518143.md?page=2)