• Immediate relatives usually consist of parents, siblings, spouse and children.

  • Who counts as immediate family matters in situations such as company policy on family leave.
  • The Family and Medical Leave Act, for example, defines immediate family as your spouse, parents, and dependent children.
  • For US immigration purposes, immediate family members are limited to spouse, parents, or unmarried children under the age of 21.
  • In inheritance law, the right to inherit passes to spouses and surviving children before passing to other relatives.