Matrilocality is a residential pattern observed in some societies where a married couple establishes their household in or very near the wife's family's residence. This practice often occurs in societies with matrilineal descent systems, where kinship and inheritance are traced through the female line, but it is not exclusively tied to such systems. Matrilocality can offer several advantages, such as providing support for the new couple from the wife's kin, facilitating childcare by grandparents and other female relatives, and strengthening the social and economic bonds within the wife's extended family. It can also influence the balance of power within the marriage and the wider family network, potentially giving more prominence or authority to the wife's lineage. This pattern of residence is one of the ways that societies organise post-marital living arrangements, with other common patterns being patrilocality (living with or near the husband's family) and neolocality (establishing an independent household).