By law, the non-custodial parent usually pays child support. If parents have shared custody , the parent who earns the most money will pay because their income is higher. That means you could be obligated to pay child support based on two major factors: your income and the number of overnights you have with your children. The court follows a formula in determining child support obligations , and that mathematical calculation is based in the law. They use a chart when looking at the number of overnights each parent has. Though there are some upcoming changes to the law related to the number of overnights required, 92 (or 25%) of the overnights is the threshold number to create shared custody under the law. If you have your kid for more than 92 nights and less than 104 nights, you have shared residential custody and could pay slightly more than you do if you have your child fewer than 92 overnights. The court will also consider extraordinary medical expenses that one parent is paying, health insurance costs, and daycare expenses. A lot of parents want to use private school tuition, but that usually isn’t included unless the private school was recommended for the child’s disability or something like that. If the parents are earning over $30,000 a month combined, then the court has more discretion to make a decision about how much child support is appropriate because then they are outside of the guidelines. So, those are the basic ways that the court determines child support. Will Child Support Be Awarded During The Divorce Process? Child support can be ordered temporarily before the final custody trial at a pendente lite hearing or at the agreement of both parties. If one parent is awarded custody, that parent can file for child support outside the case if they didn’t ask for it in the case; or if it’s in the case, the court can set the pendente lite hearing and make a child support order. The parent who does not have custody would probably be the one paying child support. The court can backdate the child support to the date of filing in many cases.

There is not an official age, though the common belief is 16. Once a child turns 16, they have a right to be emancipated legally, and that is usually enough for a judge to lay off a little in dictating who has custody. A 16-year-old can usually decide where they want to stay. If One Or Both Parents Are Not Following A Parenting Agreement That’s Been Put In Place, What Can Be Done? It’s inevitable that there are going to be some allegations and even real violations of an order. When that happens, the age-old remedy would be to file your contempt. It can’t just be a personal infraction; there has to be a legal infraction that you’re going after in terms of a contempt. After a few months, you’ll get a contempt hearing and be able to argue that the other parent is not following the schedule or has done something to violate the order. And in some cases, that works. The problem with a contempt is that you need to show two things: one, the other parent violated the order, and two, they have the ability to follow the order but deliberately violated it. Then, you need to also have a substantial remedy, and if you don’t have any remedy, a contempt is really useless. You might ask for fine or for makeup days. Some parents ask to change custody based on the contempt, though I’ve yet to see the courts do that. There’s always an excuse for why the parent couldn’t follow the order that one time or those times. They might be able to purge their contempt, or at least get out of it without losing their custody rights. Contempt, therefore, isn’t always effective, though it is a mechanism the court has. Of course, if there’s been a serious violation, then contempt is the right way to go about it. You can also file a motion to enforce an order, which is the less punitive remedy. This motion does often work to get compliance with the order. Another option the part has would be to file a modification of the order if it’s not working the way that it was written. And then, of course, there are emergency orders. Let’s say a parent is not returning a child and the child is in some kind of danger. You can file an emergency action to get the child returned or to get the contempt order followed. You can call the police if it’s that dramatic of a situation. Those things do occur, and a lot people will call the police first. You can do a welfare check with the police, but most people will take that emergency route first when they’re really panicking or when someone’s not following an order. Even if it’s just a temporary order (not the final order at trial), it still is an order, and the other party has to follow it. If they don’t, then they can be brought to justice, so to speak, by the court. The courts. are usually careful before they start taking dramatic actions and will often seek a remedy, unless something more is warranted. If they don’t think it’s an emergency, they’ll just throw it into a regular case. I’ve seen the courts be very harsh at contempt hearings, and I’ve seen them back off with the contempt, so there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get what you want. For more information on Child Custody & Support Law in Maryland, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling  555-555-5556  today.

Parents usually attend a parenting class, which instructs them on different options for visitation. Visitation and physical custody are two different terms that mean essentially the same thing. With 50/50 custody, you could share custody different ways. Maybe you do one week one then one week off. Maybe you do two nights with one parent and two nights with the other parent and then alternate those remaining weekend nights with the other parent each week. Maybe you do four days on and four days off, which works better when the child is younger. Children need a set routine for school, and those kinds of exchanges would make that difficult. That’s shared physical custody, and those schedules accommodate that. When you’re talking about visitation, one parent has primary custody and the other parent has visitation, or what’s called access. Access schedules might include two to three overnights every other weekend (Friday to Monday, Friday to Sunday, or Saturday to Sunday). Some parents have visitation from Friday to Sunday every week. In addition to the visitation schedule, you have other access schedules that might include things like dinner visits on off weeks. For example, if one party has every other weekend, they might have Tuesday and Thursday dinner visits on the off week. Those all are options that the court considers in making a schedule for visitation. Several factors go into the court making these decisions, including geographic location, accommodations, whether there is suitable housing for the child at the non-custodial parent’s home, what kind of activities the child is involved in, whether the parents can communicate property, or any fitness issues with the non-custodial parent. These depend on the child’s age, as well. If the child is, say, 15, they have more of a say in where they want to spend most of their time. The child’s gender and any number of things all go into determining the proper access schedule for visitation. In some cases, it just doesn’t make sense to have a 50/50 schedule when there are different activities that the child does at home and there’s no reason to break those up. The law dictates looking at what’s best for the child in those determinations through evaluation. It’s not always easy to get into a shared physical custody schedule compared to an access schedule, or you might only have visitation for a day during the off weekend, maybe a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It depends on the allegations that are being floated and what accommodations are available. Sometimes, the access is supervised by social workers in a courthouse or another location that allows for supervised visits. They might allow a grandparent or the other parent to supervise that parent’s access. Those are the more restricted methods of access and visitation, which are not all that rare. The courts are definitely more restrictive when there’s been domestic violence, for example. It’s important to note that some of this might be dictated by the wealth of the parents. If one parent can provide a certain type of access, they have much more flexibility to work with the court and everyone involved to have substantial time. On the other hand, it’s not as easy for parents without a lot of resources for accommodating the child or for making sure that they’re acting in the child’s best interest in terms of housing, feeding, and caring for them. Wealth does play a role in that. For more information on Child Custody & Support Law in Maryland, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling  555-555-5556  today.

Maryland Child Custody Questions Maryland actually follows two common laws, or case laws, that dictate how custody is determined based on certain factors. The statutes don’t really possess those different factors for determining custody, though they do include preliminary requirements before you can decide custody (one example being that you have to be the mother or presumed father of the child). After you get into the case law, there are 25 or so different factors that the courts evaluate. Types Of Child Custody In Maryland There are two different types of custody in Maryland. The first is legal custody, which is decision-making about health, religion, education, and general welfare issues. There are multiple types of legal custody. You might have sole legal custody where you are the primary parent or, in other words, the parent who has the sole right to make the determination about decisions on issues and just tell the other parent what they have decided. In joint custody arrangements, the parents have to make an agreement before they can make decisions on those types of issues, and some court orders set a definite line between what types of decisions would trigger legal custody. Some have to be more serious decisions (like getting a surgery or braces) or major changes at school (like private school versus public school). Other court decisions do target more day-to-day legal custody decisions that both parents want to be involved in. Sometimes, a joint agreement has to be exercised before even minor decisions can be made. Legal custody always plays a big role when people want to get a passport and travel with their kids out of the country for vacation. I’ve had emergency motions where they want legal custody just for that purpose, and the courts are sometimes responsive to it. One of the big factors in determining legal custody is the parents’ ability to communicate. If there have been domestic violence issues, a history of poor communication, or a refusal to communicate at all, the courts don’t feel as warm to a decision for a joint legal custody. Let’s say the parents are always hanging up on each other and not answering each other’s texts about the kids and things of that nature. The court will just give custody to one parent. So, that’s legal custody, and then, there is also tie-breaking authority, which is more complicated. If the parties can’t come to an agreement in an issue, Maryland case law says that one party can have tie-breaking authority, meaning that parent has the ability to make the final decision after they’ve had mediation on the issue or deep discussions. Someone with tie-breaking authority could essentially have the ability to make the final decision, which is a controversial option in many cases now. Many clients wonder what the point is. Why don’t you just give me sole custody? Why would I have to have tie-breaking authority when you can just give me sole? Tie-breaking authority can play out differently when actual issues arise involving the children. A couple of years ago, tie-breaking authority was thrown around much more than I’ve seen recently, but I’m not saying it’s gone away. A lot of clients have started to be more reluctant to request it or to even accept it because it is essentially the same thing as sole custody in some ways. The other type of custody is residential custody, the most common and understandable type, which determines where the child resides on a day-to-day basis. There are different types of residential custody, with one being shared, which is 50/50. The courts look at various factors to determine residential custody. Those factors include the fitness of each parent and whether they have a history of mental health issues, domestic violence, or substance abuse issues. They look at whether they are alienating the other parent or doing anything that seems to be unreasonable, inadequate, or mean-spirited. Fitness is a big factor because it has its own evaluation, which is not straightforward. It’s an intricate and detailed evaluation in cases where there is evidence of some of those circumstances. Then, the court looks at the age of the children, the financial situation, and the material aspects the parent can provide for the children. They look at the distance between the parties and, again, how well they can communicate. These types of factors weigh in, though not all of them are triggered in each case. In some cases, only a handful of the 25 or 30 factors are triggered. The court takes the factors that will most affect the stability of the kids. That’s the standard when making these best interest determinations. What is the stability of the household and their ability to provide for the child? That, coupled with other factors, will form the basis of the court’s evaluations or analysis. There are often modifications of custody when someone wants to change a previous custody order. In order to modify a case, you first have to prove that there has been a material change in circumstance that affects the general welfare of the child. That is a complication prior to even getting to the evaluation you are looking at with those factors and case law. In some cases, the kid has done something as they’ve gotten older that one parent doesn’t like or something. The court probably won’t find a material change and will deny that request. Even in situations where a serious problem with a child has already existed for several years, those cases are usually not accepted for modification by the court if one parent wants to change custody. If a material change has been found, the second step in the modification process is a determination of the child’s best interest. These modification cases can be very difficult. But that’s after a divorce. Modification won’t come into play when a couple is divorcing unless there is a previous custody order. I had one case where the parents had a custody order, got married, and are now divorcing, so they have to modify one of their custody orders. Most modifications are post-divorce. For more information on Child Custody & Support Law in Maryland , an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling  555-555-5556  today.

In many cases, custody is contested right from the start. Unless the parents are choosing to have an uncontested divorce, they split from each other before the divorce, meaning one spouse will have to move out. When that happens, one parent, naturally, takes the kids, and that’s the initial process for splitting. Though it’s not gender-based by rule, the mother takes the kids in many cases. The natural relationship for that parent with the child remains, but the parent who doesn’t have the kids sometimes feels left out and will aim for fifty-fifty or full custody, even though the kid didn’t go with them initially. That’s the basis for many of the custody battles when the split leaves the kids with one parent, and they don’t have an agreement amongst themselves on how to see the kids. In other cases, there is an informal agreement between the parents regarding how the kids can spend time with the other parent, but it still often becomes unacceptable to the parent who doesn’t have the kids. That situation remains until the court schedules a pendent lite hearing (a Latin term that means, essentially, temporary), which dictates who has custody up until the trial date (often several months away). It sometimes takes a couple of months to get the pendente lite hearing to begin with, so in those few months beforehand, the parent who has custody is establishing a routine with the kids, which will be hard to break with an order from the pendente lite hearing. That means one parent might have the inside track of keeping the custody, but not always. The court intervenes at the pendente lite hearing unless they have some kind of a mediation, and that court’s decision is binding to the parents and can also include an order for child support. Aggressive attorneys will do whatever they can to get their clients involved in the child’s upbringing immediately after a split, if they’re not the custodial parent, so that their client won’t be blocked out after that pendente lite hearing or leading up to the divorce. If there’s no access until the trial, then it’s an uphill battle to get back in that kid’s life after those months that the kid was living with one parent. In other words, that initial split dictates a lot, and the parent who doesn’t have custody at the time of the split needs to be aggressive in seeing their child. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. There are many circumstances that play into what the court does for those temporary orders, including any allegations about fitness or accommodation, which are often thrown in both directions. They don’t have a stable home, or They just moved into a friend’s apartment—any number of reasons that a parent will give as to why they don’t want their kids to stay with the other parent for extended periods of time. And, in most cases, that’s a symptom of the split, rather than of the parent’s fitness, though there are legitimate reasons for the requests at times. That’s why an attorney is very important in ensuring the non-custodial parent is involved in the child’s life at the time of the split, so that parent isn’t facing an uphill battle to get back into the child’s life at the time of the trial. For more information on Child Custody & Support Law in Maryland , an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling  555-555-5556  today.

Alimony, just like child support, can be modified after a change of circumstances. In a marital separation agreement, some couples add language that establishes alimony, makes alimony non-modifiable (unlike with child support, you can dictate whether alimony can be modifiable), or waives it altogether. If both parties agree to waive alimony, they can never modify it or restart it. Non-modifiable alimony would be on fixed terms that can never be modified. If you don’t have that language in your agreement or order, you could be making yourself vulnerable to a modification down the road. Your ex-spouse might try to hit you up for more alimony. If you had a trial instead of an agreement, then alimony could still be a possibility. Therefore, the language of your order or your agreement is very important. For more information on Spousal Support in a Maryland Divorce Case, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling  555-555-5556  today.

Maryland courts do award alimony, which is the same thing as spousal support. The court has different ways of recognizing alimony or spousal support; the monthly payment can last for an indefinite time period or for a specific time period, or it could be a one- or two-time payment of some sort. Parties can waive support. Some parties agree not to have spousal support and to never request it in the future. The law does not allow a person to request spousal support after it’s been waived. If the court finds that there is no spousal support order or no amount for spousal support, it’s also very difficult to modify that. Spousal support is initiated based on the amount of income one spouse receives and several other factors, so, it’s usually a case-by-case determination. The other parent has to request it, and if they don’t, they won’t automatically get it at the time of trial. Spousal support also can be granted pendente lite, which is temporarily before the trial date, in some cases. So, it depends on the circumstances of the case about whether alimony is granted. How Is The Amount Of Spousal Support Determined In Maryland? There are several factors that play into the determination of spousal support. In addition to the income of each spouse, the court will also look at the circumstances that led to the destruction of the marriage, the financial situation of the parties, and the sweat equity or the amount of support the party has provided to the marital unit. Then, they have a catch-all factor that looks at anything else that should be considered. If you look at Title 11 of the Family Law Article, you’ll see that a support obligation can be granted for any different number of reasons. Adultery is a big one. Overall, the court will look at the financial situation of the parties, the ability of a party to be self-supportive, the length of the marriage, the age of the parties, and their physical and mental condition. If one spouse is disabled or has an inability to work, that will be a factor. The court also tries to maintain the status quo of the parties based on quality of life that they lived during the marriage. As you can see, the main factors involve the financial needs and resources of each party. Determining the obligation requires a very detailed analysis. There is also the popular defense of voluntary impoverishment when someone doesn’t want to pay alimony or wants the other party to pay. I’ve seen people accuse the other party of not working or stopping their work in an effort to receive that alimony or not pay. That defense comes from case law. Is There Specific Criteria In Maryland When Considering Alimony Awards Such As Length Of The Marriage, Co-Assets, Adultery, Etc.? One initial determination is whether child support is part of the case. The Court usually calculates alimony before calculating child support. The amount of alimony would be considered income of the payee and subtracted from the income of the payor for the calculation of child support. When determining the amount of alimony, there are 12 or so factors that the court is required to consider. Factors include the ability of the party seeking alimony to be wholly or partly self-supporting, the time necessary for the parties seeking alimony to gain sufficient education or training to enable that party to find suitable employment, the standard of living that the party’s established, the duration of the marriage, the monetary and non-monetary contributions of each party to the wellbeing of the family, the circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the parties, the age of each party, the physical and mental condition of each party, the ability of the party from whom the alimony is sought to meet their own needs while meeting the needs of the parties seeking alimony, any agreements between the parties, and the financial needs and financial resources of each party, including all of the income and assets, any awards in the divorce case, the nature and amount of financial obligations of each party, and the rights of each party to receive retirement benefits. Then, the final factor is whether the spouse who was a resident of a related institution as defined in the health article and from whom alimony is sought can become eligible for medical assistance earlier than would otherwise occur. In relation to the answers to the 12 factors, the question that the court also has to deal with is whether they’re going to award temporary alimony, which can last two to five years, or permanent alimony, which can last indefinitely if the spouse needs more assistance. There are some issues that are considered in terms of the educational level of one of the spouses. Let’s say a doctor marries someone who doesn’t have the same level of training and then ends up supporting that person permanently. Also, people who are older or who have medical problems can get permanent alimony, while people who need additional training to get back on their feet can get temporary alimony. Alimony takes on different forms, but usually the person who is paying alimony would have to have enough income to pay it. In some cases, the alimony is paid by covering the mortgage for the family home or something of that nature, so it’s an open field of how that spousal support is paid or what is paid for. For more information on Spousal Support in a Maryland Divorce Case, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling  555-555-5556  today.

The general rule is that in order for a custody or support order to be modified in Maryland, there must be a material change in circumstances. For example, financial hardship due to the loss of a job, the addition or removal of certain expenses related to children (e.g. daycare), or a windfall of money are events that would likely qualify as a change in circumstances, and thereby warrant a modification to a support order. The process of justifying a modification to a custody order is much more detailed. Specifically, it is a two-step process, whereby it must be established that there has been a material change in circumstances that is affecting the best interests or the general welfare of the child. For instance, if one parent moves out of state, then the child might not be able to visit with that parent as often. Alternatively, a parent who lived far away could move closer to the child, and request additional time with the child. It could be that the children are poorly raised and are starting to exhibit dangerous behavior linked to a living condition, and there may need to be an intervention. For example, if a parent begins abusing substances or gets incarcerated, then that would warrant a modification to the custody order. It is not always the case that the proposed change in circumstances is significant enough to warrant a custody order modification. Oftentimes, one parent will just be upset at the other, or just want the custody order to be changed. It is not easy to execute a modification to an existing custody order without clear evidence of a substantial change in circumstances that affects the best interests of the child. Determining the best interests of the child requires a consideration of roughly 25 factors, including the fitness of the parents. If there has been no material change in circumstance but the fitness has deteriorated, that may not justify a modification, although it would be a concern. This is a source of frustration in some cases. Other factors in the determination of the best interests of the child include geographic vicinity, material aspects affecting the child, the age of the child, and the nature of communication between the parents. How Often Can You Modify Child Custody In Maryland? There is no limit to the number of times, or the length of time, during which custody modification petitions can be made. However, as you are required to show a change in material circumstances in order to justify that request, and prove the change to get it accepted, the number of opportunities for doing so may be quite limited. That said, wherever there are significant changes in circumstances, custody can be modified. If a parent is hospitalized, loses or gets a new job, moves to a new home, or any other number of possible changes in circumstances that affect the well-being of the child, a custody change can be requested. These changes must impact the wellbeing, or potential wellbeing, of the child, however. Not the convenience of the parents, or even the preference of the child unless they are older. Starting at 16, a child can make the request themselves for a change in custody as well but will need to provide reasons beyond a preference for doing so. What Forms Do I Need To Modify Child Custody In Maryland? While it is possible to fill out your own forms to request a child custody modification, it is probably wiser to have a lawyer do so for you. Incorrectly filling out the forms, missing deadlines, or missing attached documents can all cost you your chance at a better custody arrangement. That said, if you do wish to do so yourself, you’ll have to start with a DR-7 form (domestic relationships form 7), assuming there is already a custody court order in effect in which you were either the plaintiff or defendant. To this, you will need to attach the original court order, as well as the current addresses and phone numbers of both yourself and the other parent (or other plaintiff or defendant in the original case). Once you have filled in all the relevant information, you will need to indicate the change in material circumstances that motivates your request to modify the current custody order. Remember, these changes need to be significant, as does the impact on the child’s well-being if you wish to have a chance at a new arrangement. Can One Parent In Maryland Stop The Other From Seeing Their Child? In Maryland, unless the court has deprived one parent of their visitation rights, it is impossible to legally prevent contact between a child and their parent. During divorce proceedings, courts will consider and resolve the issue of child custody for any children of the couple. This could result in sole custody, or shared custody, for both legal and physical custody of the child. Even in cases of sole custody, however, the court will generally require that a visitation schedule and arrangement be reached so that the child can continue to see both parents. With some exceptions. In cases of truly violent, dangerous, or heinous acts, a court can deny the parental rights of the abuser, including depriving them of visitation rights. This is not done lightly, however. It is also the only way to prevent a child from seeing their other parent, legally. Physically preventing them from doing so within the bounds of their visitation agreement without permission from the courts is a crime. Can A Request Or Petition To Modify A Decree Be Challenged Or Opposed? A request or petition to modify a decree can absolutely be challenged. In court, one party could deny every single thing the other party claims, and they could file their opposition to the court. Often, cases involve heavily contested issues.

One of the key issues affecting the division of property or assets in a Maryland divorce case is what happened to cause the split such as provable adultery in the marriage. Other factors include the length of the marriage, efforts at maintaining the marital structure, the financial situation of the parties, and the contributions of each party to the marriage. In many cases, it comes down to a 50/50 split. How Do Courts Handle The Division Of Debts In A Divorce? I’ve not found many cases where the court has the requirement to designate debts or payment of debts in a divorce, with the exception of attorney fee debts. If there is a lot of money available and someone has been egregious or totally irresponsible, then that would fall under the factors or the circumstances of dissolution of marriage, and things of that nature weigh into the percentage of the monetary award. Sometimes it’s a 50/50 split, and sometimes it’s a 60/40 split, but in terms of designating the payment of debts, I’ve not seen a court or anything in the law require debts to be allocated at the time of divorce. Usually, the property award is allocated, and that means the equity in the house, the retirement, etc. are split.