Pt. 1. Tying the knot : marriage and promises to marry
Marriage and the state
Marriage, law, and society : a tangled web
Common-law marriage
The end of heart balm
Pt. 2. Anything goes : marriage in a permissive age
The rise of sexual freedom
Cohabitation
Same-sex relationships
Pt. 3. When the music stops : dissolving a marriage and the aftermath
Untying the knot : divorce and annulment
Dollars and sense : the economic consequences of divorce
Collateral damage : the children of divorce
Pt. 4. The old and the new generation
The extended family : elder law and the law of inheritance
Parents and children : rights and duties
Who do we belong to? Parentage and the law
Chosen people : adoption and the law.