Marriage Annulled After Separated Twins Marry

**Illiy** · 01-11-08, 10:37 AM

Marriage Annulled After Separated Twins Marry

Friday, January 11, 2008

Twins separated at birth have married each other without realizing they were brother and sister, it has been revealed.
The British couple's marriage has now been annulled by the High Court after judges ruled the marriage had never validly existed.
The identities of the brother and sister and details of how they fell in love and married are being kept secret. Soon after they were born they were separated and adopted by different families.
Neither was told they had a twin and had no idea they were blood relatives until after their wedding.
Professor Lord Alton uncovered the case when a High Court judge told him of a hearing he had dealt with.

**Jenna** · 01-11-08, 10:43 AM

Luke and Leia?

**Pudge** · 01-11-08, 10:47 AM

Ewwwwwwwwwwww

**2525** · 01-11-08, 12:35 PM

I wonder how they found out?

That would have been... awkward.

**Illiy** · 01-11-08, 12:44 PM

Originally Posted by 2525

I wonder how they found out?

That would have been... awkward.

Matched up scars?

I believe their families told them...

**Jenna** · 01-11-08, 12:55 PM

Darth Vader told them!

**2525** · 01-11-08, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Illiy

Matched up scars?

I believe their families told them...

True enough... but what I really wondering is that how that all happened. If they were dating for a while and contemplating marriage, they must have met each other's families before getting married. Also, assuming this was like any normal relationship (aside from being brother and sister) the families would have been there during the marriage ceremony.

But who knows, I don't have all the details. Bottom line is, awkward.

**Hannah87** · 01-11-08, 01:27 PM

weird...........

**Willowdared** · 01-11-08, 02:35 PM

That's very sad!

I can't imagine a family deliberately not telling them they were related. With closed adoptions, it would be possible they were never told there was a sibling.

**10-42Adam** · 01-11-08, 03:25 PM

Wow....that's sad and gross at the same time.

**Illiy** · 01-11-08, 07:46 PM

PDawg is right... apparently after they were separated they were adopted into different families...

Husband, Wife Discover They're Twins

By THOMAS WAGNER,
AP
Posted: 2008-01-11 17:24:15
Filed Under: Weird News
LONDON (Jan. 11) - Twins who were separated at birth got married without realizing they were brother and sister, a lawmaker said, urging more information be provided on birth certificates for adopted children.

A court annulled the British couple's union after they discovered their true relationship, Lord David Alton said.

"Everyone has a right to knowledge about their lineage, genealogy and identity. And if they don't, then it will lead to cases of incest," Alton told The Associated Press during a telephone interview Friday.

Alton first revealed details of the unusual case last month during a five-hour debate about a bill that would change regulations about human embryology.

"I was recently involved in a conversation with a High Court judge who was telling me of a case he had dealt with," Alton said according to a transcript of the Dec. 10 debate. "It involved the normal birth of twins who were separated at birth and adopted by separate parents.

"They were never told that they were twins. They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation."

Alton gave no additional details and would not reveal the name of the judge who told him about the case.

The High Court's Family Division declined to discuss or confirm Alton's account about the twins.

Alton, an independent legislator who works at Liverpool's John Moores University, said the siblings' inadvertent marriage raises the wider issue of the importance of strengthening the rights of children to know the identities of their biological parents, including kids who were born through in vitro fertilization.

Under British law, only a mother has to be named on a birth certificate. Such certificates also are not required to identify births that result from IVF or to identify the sperm donor.

In addition, British law does not require parents to ever tell children that they were the result of donated sperm.

Alton believes this should be changed.

Alton said he favors an amendment to the Human Fertility and Embryology bill - which is still being debated in the House of Lords - that would require birth certificates of children born from donated sperm to say that and to identify the genetic father.

Referring to the twins' case, he said: "If you start trying to conceal someone's identity, sooner or later the truth will come out. And if you don't know you are biologically related to someone, you may become attracted to them and tragedies like this may occur."