These conference proceedings contain the presentations given at the 19th Göttinger Workshop on Family Law, which took place on November 10, 2023. The workshop was held on the occasion of a legislative initiative of the German government coalition, concerning the so-called “Verantwortungsgemeinschaft” (community of responsibility). This reform proposal raised questions about the prerequisites and consequences of such communities, as well as the extent of regulatory necessity. In light of these considerations, the workshop focused on how responsibility and community are practised and should be regulated beyond the concepts of marriage and the nuclear family, e.g. in non-marital cohabitation, step- or queer families or elderly communities and other elective affinities. In addition to the jurisprudential and comparative legal perspectives, the social sciences have also been taken into account.