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).
Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 33,847 at the 2000 census, making it the third largest in Snohomish County and twenty-fourth largest in Washington State. The city is an indefinable mix of urban, suburban, small city, crossroads and bedroom community to many professionals who work in Seattle. Lynnwood is known to be the "hub city" of south Snohomish County because of all the retail shopping. Straddling the junction between Interstate 5 and the north end of Interstate 405 in Washington, it is the final tangle of population on the north end of "greater Seattle" before one continues on to other places: Everett, Bellingham, or Vancouver, BC. Its climate is wet and cool, wetter than that of Seattle. The center of the town at 44th Avenue West and 196th Southwest has the usual American panoply of small businesses, strip malls, and retail stores. Outside the commercial center of Lynnwood, to the east and north, lie Alderwood Mall, houses, and portions of the green belt.