[BlazingArizona]

Marriage is treated as a civil contract because the courts decide property settlements and child custody cases.

How would he handle these matters if marriage ceased to exist as a civil contract?

Civil contracts are made, recorded, and adjudicated by courts for every possible activity, such as installing a new bathroom in your home. So far as the government is concerned, any marriage contract can be made subject to the same rules.

[donna]

Same difference.