The legal effects of marriage in Portugal are primarily the creation of a family and the establishment of kinship ties between one spouse and the other’s relatives. The Portuguese Civil Code defines affinity as the bond between one spouse and the other person’s relatives. As for personal rights, this category includes primarily: fidelity, marital life, mutual assistance and cooperation, as well as marital equality through the adoption by the engaged couple of the status of spouses responsible for the family. In this case, Portuguese law ensures equality of both rights and obligations.