My aunt (my deceased mother's only sister, no brothers) did not marry
and has no family. She does have two half brothers. After the death of
her mother, her father remarried and had two boys. Her stepmother did
not adopt the two girls. Who are her next-of-kin: Her half brothers or
her niece and nephews?

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Clarification of Question by ettor-ga on 05 Jul 2006 18:13 PDT

My aunt (my deceased mother's only sister, no brothers) did not marry
and has no family. She does have two half brothers. After the death of
her mother, her father remarried and had two boys. Her stepmother did
not adopt the two girls. Who are her next of kin: Her two half
brothers or her niece and nephews. There is no litigation in question
nor pending regarding inheritance or any other legal matter here.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 05 Jul 2006 19:55 PDT

According to Ralph Brashier, the Cecil C. Humphreys Professor of Law
at the University of Memphis, in his article entitled "Consanguinity,
Sibling Relationships, and the Default Rules of Inheritance Law:
Reshaping Half-Blood Statutes to Reflect the Evolving Family", [ 58
SMU L. Rev. 137 (2005)
http://www.smu.edu/lra/Journals/SMULR/viewArchivedJournal.asp?ID=9 ]
the best we have to go on here is a matter of probate law, even though
you say no legal matter is at hand. Brashier goes on to say that in
most states the DNA shared through only one parent is enough to make a
half-sibling a dominant or equally close heir even if there was no
semblance of a true family relationship between the decedent and the
surviving half-sibling.

I would be interested to know if this suffices as an answer.

tutuzdad-ga

If this is regarding an inheritance, the laws on such matters vary
from place to place.

If no legal matters are involved, then "next of kin" can be determined
by social or cultural norms. Persons from different religious and
ethnic backgrounds might have differing perspectives on this.
Ultimately it's a personal thing. Your aunt's next of kin is anyone
she chooses.

From a genetic point of view, women carry a clone of their mother?s X
chromosome (they do not carry their father?s Y chromosome, men carry a
clone of their fathers Y chromosome and mother?s X chromosome.

Father XY        Mother XX

Aunt XX one from father one from mother ditto sister 
half brother XY he shares none of the aunt?s X or Y markers (different
mother?s X and the aunt does not have a Y chromosome)
niece/nephew XX one X from the mother?s side that is a clone of her
mother?s which is a clone of her mother?s and the aunt shares.

Since all other non-sexual chromosomes get recombined at random they
would not be accounted for. So, from a genetic point of view the
niece/nephews are closer to the aunt than the half brother.