The paper analyzes changes in the authority relations in two groups of families of workers who came home after working abroad: the families in which both spouses worked abroad and the families in which only the husband worked abroad. The returnees' position makes it possible to observe the changes in three successive periods of time (before going to work abroad, during the stay abroad and after the return) and at three levels of family relations (relations between the spouses, relations between the spouses and the children, relations between the spouses and their parents). Family relations were viewed through the prism of marital relations. Since marital authority is reflected in the areas which include decision-making, the following areas were analyzed: a) the area of handling total income; b) the area of raising and educating children, and c) the area of leisure time. The research was based on the assumption that the transformation of the relations in the returnees' families was caused by the change in the position of the wife; therefore, data were collected by interviewing the wives, regardless of the fact whether they themselves or just their husbands worked abroad. Because of the rapidity and scope of changes, much more attention was paid to married couples who lived in households consisting of several families. The research showed that wife's working abroad influenced the democratization of interspousal relations, as well as family relations in general. The research also pointed to the specific relation between external and internal (inter-republic) migrations on the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Working abroad enabled migrations from underdeveloped to more developed republics.