The pater familias was the absolute head of the household he was the grasp about his wife (if she was presented to him cum manu, if not the father of the spouse retained patria potestas), his kids, the wives of his sons (yet again if married cum manu which became rarer towards the conclusion of the Republic), the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen (liberated slaves, the 1st generation continue to lawfully inferior to the freeborn), disposing.