Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; issues arising during marriage, including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, and child abduction; the termination of the relationship and ancillary matters including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, and parental responsibility orders (in the United States, child custody and visitation, child support and alimony awards).
Clarksville is both the name of an unincorporated community and the name associated with District 5 in Howard County in the U.S. state of Maryland. The United States Census Bureau uses the district as a county subdivision for statistical purposes. The community is named for William Clark, a farmer who owned much of the land on which the community now lies. According to the Howard County Economic Development Authority, the community of Clarksville had a population of 16,593 as of 2007. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Clarksville District 5 had a population of 56,239 in the 2000 census. The village of River Hill is contained within Clarksville, the newest addition to the planned community of Columbia. Clarksville's public schools, part of the Howard County public school system, are among the highest-ranked in the nation and often have significantly higher funding than competing private and charter schools. Some of the most expensive homes on the East Coast are located in or around the town, whose property values are among the highest in the country. The area is located southwest of Baltimore and north of Washington, D.C. , and many residents of Clarksville commute to work in one of these two cities or their close-in suburbs.