Is refraining from speaking to a maternal cousin who divulges secrets considered a sin and a severing of kinship ties?

The relationship with your maternal cousin should not be severed for the reasons mentioned. Rather, you must re-establish contact with him, without disclosing secrets to him. Islam has enjoined the strengthening of kinship ties and warned against their severance. Abandoning the accustomed contact, visits, and kindness that a relative receives from his kin, without a valid Sharia-compliant excuse, is considered severance of kinship ties. Scholars have differed in defining the kinship ties whose severance is considered sinful. Some say it refers to every prohibited degree of kinship (mahram), while others say it is general, encompassing all kin.