Many social security systems provide benefits to members of a family in the event of a specific social risk, such as sickness, parenthood, family, old age or long-term care. However, families can take many forms, such as adoptive families, foster families, families with same-sex parents, single-parent or reconstituted families. So the definition of “family member” vary between EU countries and this can have an impact in cross-border situations. This report gives an overview of the notion of ‘family’ and ‘family member’ in national laws and looks at the implications of modern forms of family for social security coordination in the EU.

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