Relative – in the sphere of Inheritance Law, this term refers to the figure of a person who is connected via blood or marital relation with a decedent person, and is legally entitled to inherit their assets left after death. There are different lines of relatives, who respectively have different size of rights to inherit. A synonym is “next of kin”.

Within the area of Family Law in some jurisdictions, a relative is a person who has legal (and biological) connection with achild left without parents, and is legally entitled to take care of this child (i.e. to adopt the child) in case the actual parents are not able to (i.e. to perform a relative adoption).