A family lawyer is a lawyer who specializes in family law. Family law deals with marriage, domestic partnerships, civil unions, and parent-child issues.
A family lawyer can help with each of the above issues and also, more recently, caring for elderly parents and family members or seeking guardianship for a distressed family member. Family matters are often resolved by mediation after hiring a family lawyer and avoiding the over-burdened court system. Increasingly, before a marriage or a civil union, one or both of the participants are asking the other to sign a prenuptial agreement.
This is something that should be done only with the help and under the advisement of a family law lawyer. Filling for a divorce or a separation often requires the skill of an experienced family law lawyer to help split up property and to determine spousal support or alimony. Children are often a first concern of the parent (whatever the nature of the parents' relationship). If divorced, people seeking help with child custody issues need a family law lawyer. Even if the parents have a good relationship they may still need help deciding custody and child support issues and can be helped by a good family law attorney. Additionally, family members who are concerned about a child's safety can seek guardianship using a family law lawyer.