diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java
index 143f2eb2e..94902e828 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/annotator/VariantAnnotator.java
@@ -167,9 +167,6 @@ public class VariantAnnotator extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> implements Ann
     @Argument(fullName="vcfContainsOnlyIndels", shortName="dels",doc="Use if you are annotating an indel vcf, currently VERY experimental", required = false)
     protected boolean indelsOnly = false;
 
-    @Argument(fullName="family_string",shortName="family",required=false,doc="A family string of the form mom+dad=child for use with the mendelian violation ratio annotation")
-    public String familyStr = null;
-
     @Argument(fullName="MendelViolationGenotypeQualityThreshold",shortName="mvq",required=false,doc="The genotype quality treshold in order to annotate mendelian violation ratio")
     public double minGenotypeQualityP = 0.0;