Ram - thanks for your response.

Actually, right now I'm not even able to get a return on selectedItems for some reason. I'm trying to use a copy of the class that I used for New records of this type for an Edit and for some reason I'm now getting an error when trying to refer to a field on the record : 

SObject row was retrieved via SOQL without querying the requested field: Contract_Terms__c.Subsidiaries_Included_On_Terms__c 

 I know that is supposed to come from trying to retrieve a field but not referencing properly, but I thought I was referencing it properly in this code : 

public class Contract_Terms_EDIT {
private final Contract_Terms__c abc;
public List<SelectOption> selectedSubs { get; set; }
public String message { get; set; }
public String selectedItems { get; set; }
    public Contract_Terms_EDIT(ApexPages.StandardController controller) {
      
      selectedSubs = new list<SelectOption>();
        this.abc = (Contract_Terms__c )controller.getRecord();
        selectedItems=abc.Subsidiaries_Included_On_Terms__c;
        portfoliofunction=[SELECT id,name,Subsidiaries_On_Contract__c FROM Contract_Overview__c where Contract_Overview__c.id=:ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('CF00NW0000000diSH_lkid') limit 1]; 
    }

  public  String keyTechselection{get;set;} // keyTechselection refers to values selected on child field
public    String selectedMulPickKeyTech{get;set;} // this is a temporary string variable which is just used in the "getkeyTechValues()" method to separate and arrange the values and put in a drop down.

    public List<Contract_Overview__c> portfoliofunction = new List<Contract_Overview__c>();

    public String rightOptionsHidden { get; set; }
    public String leftOptionsHidden { get; set; }
        
    public List<SelectOption> getkeyTechValues()
    {
        List<SelectOption> options=new List<SelectOption>();
        options.add(new SelectOption('--None--','--None--'));
        String[] picklistlines =new String[]{};
        for(Contract_Overview__c f : portfoliofunction) //"portfoliofunction" is list of master records i.e. Contract_Overview__c
        {
            if(f.Subsidiaries_On_Contract__c=='[]') //Subsidiaries_On_Contract__c field is from master object Contract_Overview__c
                selectedMulPickKeyTech=null;
            else
            {
                selectedMulPickKeyTech=f.Subsidiaries_On_Contract__c; //Subsidiaries_On_Contract__c field is from master object Contract_Overview__c
                selectedMulPickKeyTech=selectedMulPickKeyTech.replace('[','');
                selectedMulPickKeyTech=selectedMulPickKeyTech.replace(']','');
            }
        }
        if(selectedMulPickKeyTech==null)
        {
            options.add(new SelectOption('',''));
            return options;
        }
        else
        {
            picklistlines = selectedMulPickKeyTech.split('\n');
            for (Integer i=0;i<picklistlines.size();i++)
            {
                String[] inputvalues = new String[]{};
                inputvalues=picklistlines[i].split(',');
                for(Integer j=0;j<inputvalues.size();j++)
                {
                    options.add(new SelectOption(inputvalues[j],inputvalues[j] ));
                }
            }

        return options;
        }
    } 
    public PageReference save()

        {
        
        //System.debug('********************************' + names);
        
        message = null ;       
        Boolean first = true;
        for ( SelectOption so : selectedSubs ) {
            if (first) {
                message = message ;
            }
            
                
            message = message + ', ' + so.getValue() ;
            
            first = false;
            
        }
        
        message=message.removeStart('null, ');
        message='['+message+']';
        
        System.debug('********************************' + message);
        abc.Subsidiaries_Included_On_Terms__c=message;
        
        insert abc;
        //System.debug('********************************' + contract);
                  
        PageReference pr = new PageReference('/a0B/o');
      pr.setRedirect(true);
      return pr;
          
        }
}

I thought I had referenced it properly in the lines which I underlined. Do you know what I'm doing wrong with it ? 

Also, can you tell me a quick way to pull a field value from a parent record ? I've been looking all over and can't find one. I would think it would be very simple. 

Thanks very much Ram. You've always been a great help !