# The Armed Forces Commissioner (Family Definition, and Consequential and Transitional Provision etc.) Regulations 2026, Regulation 3: Relevant family members


(1) A person is a “relevant family member” for the purposes of section 340IA of the 2006 Act where, in relation to a person subject to service law (A), the person is any of the following—
(a) A’s spouse or civil partner;
(b) a child of A or of A’s spouse or civil partner;
(c) a person whose child is A;
(d) a brother or sister, or step-brother or step-sister of A;
(e) a relative of A or of A’s spouse or civil partner where the relative is one of the following—
(i) a member of A’s household,
(ii) wholly or mainly financially dependant on A or A’s spouse or civil partner, or
(iii) someone for whom A or A’s spouse or civil partner has assumed regular and substantial caring responsibilities;
(f) where A is deceased, anyone who was a relevant family member of A under sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) immediately before A’s death.
(2) In this regulation—
“child” means a person (C) who meets one or more of the following conditions in relation to another person (P)—
(a) P is the parent or step-parent of C;
(b) P has, or would have if domiciled in England and Wales, parental responsibility for C within the meaning of section 3 of the Children Act 1989;
(c) P had, or would have had if domiciled in England and Wales, parental responsibility for C within the meaning of section 3 of the Children Act 1989;
(d) C, while under the age of 18 years, is or was—
(i) wholly or mainly financially dependent on P, or
(ii) someone for whom P has or had assumed regular and substantial caring responsibilities.
“relative” in relation to A or A’s spouse or civil partner, means any of the following—
(a) a parent or step-parent of A’s spouse or civil partner;
(b) a grandparent, step-grandparent, great-grandparent, step-great-grandparent, grandchild, step-grandchild, great-grandchild or step-great-grandchild of A or of A’s spouse or civil partner;
(c) the brother, sister, step-brother or step-sister of A’s spouse or civil partner;
(d) the uncle, great-uncle, aunt, great-aunt, niece, great-niece, nephew, great-nephew or first cousin (including by marriage or civil partnership) of A or of A’s spouse or civil partner.
(3) For the purposes of this Regulation, references to A’s spouse or civil partner includes—
(a) a person whose relationship with A is akin to a relationship between spouses or civil partners;
(b) a former spouse or civil partner of A;
(c) a person whose relationship with A was formerly akin to a relationship between spouses or civil partners.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(e), references to a person being a member of A’s household includes references to a person who would be living in the same household as A but for the fact that A is temporarily living at another address for service reasons.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2026/9780348278460/regulation/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-armed-forces-commissioner-family-definition-and-consequential-and-transitional-provision-etc-regulations-2026/regulation-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.