This course provides an overview of the law as it relates to modern families, including defining a family, the parties' relationships with each other and their children as well as the consequences of dissolution of the family. The main topics covered will be marriage, divorce, spousal and child support, encroachments on family privacy, and rights and obligations of individuals in families. The subject matter also covers abortion, alternative methods of bringing a child into a family as well as government involvement in the family. Family law is in a period of rapid change in the 21st. century. Participants in various family situations search for legal change to accommodate the rapid change in society. Court decisions, lawyers' arguments and the legal issues themselves all show the impact of societal, political, and economic change in the field of family law practice. The course will also explore how the law has evolved, and is continuing to evolve, in recent years. Class time will be used for lecture and discussion regarding text materials. The course is designed to cover the law on a national scope.