diff --git a/gap/structure.gi b/gap/structure.gi
index f458838..836e504 100644
--- a/gap/structure.gi
+++ b/gap/structure.gi
@@ -61,13 +61,19 @@ end);
 ## Helpers for the constructors below:
 
 ArgHelper@ := function(parmlist)
-  # returns a list of the family and the flat list of elements of parmlist
+  local fam;
+  # returns a list of the family and the list of elements of parmlist
   if Length(parmlist) = 0 then
     Error("usage: RAQ constructors take an optional family, followed by gens");
   fi;
-  if IsFamily(parmlist[1]) then return [Remove(parmlist,1), Flat(parmlist)]; fi;
-  parmlist := Flat(parmlist);
-  return [FamilyObj(parmlist), parmlist];
+  fam := fail;
+  if IsFamily(parmlist[1]) then fam := Remove(parmlist,1); fi;
+  if Length(parmlist) = 1 and IsList(parmlist[1])
+     and not IsDirectProductElement(parmlist[1]) then
+    parmlist := parmlist[1];
+  fi;
+  if fam = fail then fam := FamilyObj(parmlist); fi;
+  return [fam, parmlist];
 end;
 
 CheckLQGprop@ := function(gens)