Officials in Brazil have sparked controversy by allowing a man to marry both of his two girlfriends.
The trio, from Rio De Janeiro, have lived together as a 'married couple' for three years and share bills and a bank account, reports the BBC.
Public Notary Claudia do Nascimento Domingues argued that the man and two women should be entitled to family rights.
Ms Domingues allowed the three to be joined in a civil union three months ago and added that there was nothing in law to prevent such a union.
"We are only recognising what has always existed. We are not inventing anything," she said.
"For better or worse, it doesn't matter, but what we considered a family before isn't necessarily what we would consider a family today."
But the civil union has been branded "absurd and totally illegal" by lawyer Regina Beatriz Tavares de Silva.
She told the BBC it was "something completely unacceptable which goes against Brazilian values and morals."
Ms da Silva, who is president of the Commission for the Rights of the Family, said the union would not be allowed to remain in place.
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