Keep me logged in until I sign out. The moment a man and woman marry, their relationship acquires a legal status.
Married couples have financial and personal duties during marriage and after separation or divorce.
State laws determine the extent of these duties. Of course, marriage is a private bond between two people, but it is also an important social institution. Both spouses may work to support the family, the husband may support the wife, or the wife may support the husband. Definitions and opinions of the proper functions of marriage continue to change. The women's rights movement and gay rights movement have changed some people's ideas of marriage and created new forms of relationships, including Adomestic partnerships and Acivil unions for same-sex couples.