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Relationship Agreement: A Contract for Lovers

Herman Franck, Esq.
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 9780595307289
Reviewed by Kam Aures for Rebeccasreads.com (07/10)


“Relationship Agreement- A Contract for Lovers” is a contract consisting of a number of provisions pertaining to each individual person’s conduct within a relationship. Some of the areas covered include:  affairs, honesty, forgiveness, resolving disputes, loyalty, and equality. 

For each section, the provision is outlined and then there is an area for you to write in appropriate consequences if there is a violation.  For instance, Section 17, is called the “No Prolonged Coldness Clause.”  Part of this clause reads that “The parties agree not to be unduly cold to each other for prolonged periods of time, and instead to be predominantly warm to each other, but all the while still permitting some short periods of coldness due to moodiness, hormonal issues, psychological lapses, career or life tragedies, or other events that will make even the warmest person temporarily frigid.” (p. 26) Underneath the clause there are lines for you to write in what happens if one violates this clause.  Franck provides some suggestions for recommended consequences at the end of the book, but it is ultimately left to the reader’s discretion as to what they will be.

While the majority of the clauses in the contract I agree with (such as the ones I listed in the first paragraph of this review) there are some that I think are a little too much. One of these is Section 22 which addresses the breakdown of whose responsibility certain childrearing duties are.  There is a chart in this section where tasks such as diaper changing, bathing child 1, bathing child 2, explaining family history, waking children for school, reading stories, etc. are outlined.  For each task there is a column where you are to write who this task is assigned to.  In my opinion, some of those things are things that just should not be considered to be assigned tasks.  For instance, reading a story before bed should not be something that is assigned to someone.  Assigning it makes it seem like a chore which it definitely is not.

Franck’s formal education is in the fields of economics and law and one can definitely see influences of that legal background in “Relationship Agreement- A Contract for Lovers.”  I think that, for the most part, the book is a great guide for couples and will serve well to encourage discussion about important relationship issues.