Bilateral descent is a kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important in determining familial relationships and inheritance. This means that an individual traces their ancestry and kinship ties through both their mother's and father's sides of the family. In societies with bilateral descent, there is no strong emphasis on either the paternal or maternal line; both are considered equally significant. This system is common in many modern Western societies. It contrasts with unilineal descent systems, such as patrilineal descent (where kinship is traced through the father's line) and matrilineal descent (where kinship is traced through the mother's line), where one side of the family is considered more important than the other. Bilateral descent often leads to a wider network of recognised relatives compared to unilineal systems.