Conclusion

Abstract

Deceit within intimate relationships is a persistent part of life and a consistent issue for the law. The legal rules, practices, and presumptions governing intimate deception have attracted little attention, remaining overlooked or assumed in the background rather than studied in the light. But this far-reaching body of law shapes both the everyday details and the overarching course of many lives, structuring people’s decisionmaking, struggles, and opportunities. Intimate deception and the law governing it require much more critical scrutiny. The law of intimate deception is too important and needs too much reform to be hidden in plain sight.