Maryland Divorce Lawyer Blog

What Maryland Law Says about Fraud, Coercion, and Duress in Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

May 23, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Getting a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is often an excellent financial plan for married (or soon-to-be-married) couples. A well-written contract can help ensure that you, not a court, will decide your finances should anything happen to the marriage. Having a knowledgeable Maryland prenuptial agreement lawyer is vital to ensuring that the agreement you sign is valid, enforceable, and accurately reflects the objectives you wanted to achieve.

As with any legal process, there is a right way and a wrong way to procure a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. Recently, Yahoo! Entertainment reported on one internet celebrity’s postnuptial agreement, which may be an example of a contract executed using impermissible methods.

According to Yahoo!, streaming star Amouranth accused her husband of forcing her to sign a postnuptial agreement “at gunpoint.” In addition to allegedly threatening her safety, the wife also accused the husband of using the safety and well-being of her pets as “leverage” in securing her signature on the contract.

What are ‘Crawford Credits’ and When Might They Impact My Maryland Divorce?

May 16, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

For many married couples, the largest single asset they possess is their marital home. When divorce arises, dealing with the marital home is often the most significant issue other than child-related matters. Even as you both navigate the divorce process, someone must pay the mortgage, property taxes, etc. Accounting for these expenses when it is time to divide assets can be crucial. To ensure you leave your marriage with a fair asset distribution, make sure you are not tackling the divorce process alone, but instead have representation from a knowledgeable Maryland divorce lawyer.

A recent divorce case from Howard County illustrates how thorny these matters can be. A husband responsible for paying the mortgage on the marital home, but did not receive something called “Crawford credits” based on those mortgage payments, took his case to the Appellate Court, but lost. Ultimately, he was unsuccessful because the law carved out several exceptions, one of which applied in his case.

To understand more fully why the court ruled against the husband, it helps to understand what Crawford credits are. These credits, which take their name from the 1982 Maryland Supreme Court case of Crawford v. Crawford, are a divorce law concept that impacts equitable distribution when a couple owns one or more pieces of real estate.

The Legal Rules Surrounding ‘Conflicts of Interest’ and the Process of Selecting an Attorney to Handle Your Maryland Divorce

April 30, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

A divorce case involves many steps and numerous decisions. One of those choices is selecting the right Maryland divorce lawyer. This decision may become particularly complicated if your spouse seeks to exclude your preferred attorney. The good news is that, in most situations, the rules regarding these “conflicts of interest” will not require you to replace your preferred legal counsel.

A recent case from Anne Arundel County illustrates just how far the rules regarding conflicts of interest do—and do not—extend.

In 2022, an Annapolis wife filed for divorce. Three years earlier, she and her husband had sued their neighbors and a property developer over stormwater runoff that allegedly damaged the couple’s property. The couple hired a local attorney who represented them in the property damage case.

Identifying Tactics that are Doomed to Fail When Used in Your Maryland Divorce Case

April 16, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

There is a time for debating and discussing one’s novel beliefs or opinions… and that time is not while attempting to litigate your divorce case. This is one area, among many, where having an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer represent you can be extremely helpful. Your knowledgeable attorney can save you from making the sort of mistakes that, no matter how important, useful, or valuable they may seem to you, are doomed to fail with the court and make you look unserious in the process.

In 2022, spouses H.M. and V.M. negotiated a Marital Settlement Agreement, which a Prince George’s County trial court approved and incorporated into the couple’s 2023 judgment of absolute divorce. One of the agreement’s clauses stated that the ex-spouses would sell the residence after their minor child graduated from high school, splitting any profits generated by the transaction.

After the child graduated in June 2023, the ex-wife was reluctant to sell the home. The ex-husband eventually returned to court to request that the judge appoint a trustee to oversee the sale of the house. The trial court ruled in favor of the husband. The wife took several post-judgment steps, but they were unsuccessful. The reasons for her lack of success are our focus today.

Civil or Criminal? Direct or Constructive? The Different Forms of Contempt of Court in Maryland

March 31, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

In divorce or other family law cases, the best path forward is to work collaboratively with your ex (or soon-to-be-ex) spouse to resolve all disputes, and to follow all of the orders the trial judge hands down. When that does not matter, contempt of court proceedings can result. If you face a contempt charge, it is essential to know what to expect, as well as what the court can and cannot do. Obtaining this knowledge and securing effective advocacy against the contempt charge are two goals an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer can help you with immeasurably.

Recently, the Appellate Court weighed in regarding proper and improper contempt punishments and parties’ burdens of proof. The case involved child custody and child support, but the lessons from the court’s ruling apply to all kinds of divorce and family law cases.

In the summer of 2024, the wife brought the husband into court for a contempt hearing. The trial judge concluded that the husband had violated the couple’s child custody order and sentenced the husband to 30 days behind bars for “constructive civil contempt.”

A Celebrity Breakup and the Perils of Posting About Your Divorce on Social Media

March 18, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Today, Millenials, members of “Gen Z,” and many others live much of their lives online. For some influencers and celebrities, it seems that if it did not happen on Instagram (or another social media platform,) it did not happen at all. However, the ever-presence of social media can be a problem when you are going through a divorce. The potential pitfalls are numerous and varied, but by finding and retaining a skilled Maryland divorce lawyer, you can sidestep these possible hazards that otherwise could harm your divorce case.

A recent celebrity divorce case provides a practical example. Teyana Taylor is a singer-songwriter who married Iman Shumpert, a professional basketball player, in 2016. The couple divorced in 2024. After the divorce was finalized, though, the ex-husband allegedly posted a series of documents and reports to Instagram. The Instagram information appeared to show the ex-wife getting a substantial amount in the divorce, including four pieces of real estate worth more than $10 million, a seven-figure cash sum, a $300,000 Maybach vehicle, a $70,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, and a tour bus.

The “leaked” documents created a stir on social media, with many users calling the ex-wife a “gold digger.” The ex-wife fought back this month, filing a request with the court to hold the ex-husband in contempt of court. According to Taylor, Shumpert’s social media disclosure included false reports and court documents that were sealed by the judge. The ex-wife’s legal team asked the judge to impose maximum fines and a 20-day jail stint as punishment for leaking the sealed information.

Dividing Credit Card Debts in a Maryland Divorce — Including Cards Titled in One Spouse’s Name Alone

February 28, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

One of the most important aspects of any divorce is the division of marital assets and debts. A crucial part of that process is separating marital from non-marital. Sometimes, it is as easy as looking at how an asset or debt account is titled, but in Maryland, that is far from the only relevant factor. Given the importance of fair distribution of debts and wealth, having a knowledgeable Maryland divorce lawyer on your side can be critical to success.

According to the Federal Reserve in New York City, Americans’ collective credit card debt has cleared the $1.2 trillion mark, shattering all previous records in that area. Credit card debt can be a substantial part of married couples’ lives, making it a significant piece of the divorce puzzle when those marriages end.

Such was the case for one Upper Marlboro couple who recently came before the Appellate Court of Maryland.

How a Wife’s Acceptance of Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars from a Trust Closed Off Her Ability to Challenge a Marital Property Agreement

February 7, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Any contractual agreement you sign with your sign that governs the distribution of assets — whether it is a prenuptial agreement, a postnuptial agreement, a marital property agreement, or a divorce settlement agreement — deserves your utmost attention. Because of the high stakes involved, it also calls for advice and counsel from an experienced Maryland marital agreement lawyer.

One of the essential aspects of any marital agreement is understanding your rights and obligations, including recognizing what actions may act as a waiver of legal rights you would otherwise have had.

A Montgomery County couple’s marital property agreement dispute clearly illustrates this concept.

Dealing With an Uncooperative Spouse When Litigating a Maryland Divorce

January 24, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Divorce is often an extremely painful time. Different individuals respond to the trauma of divorce in various ways — some more constructive than others. One way of responding to your spouse’s decision to end your marriage that is never helpful is to ignore it (or ignore aspects of the legal case that require you to respond.) Failing to participate in your divorce case can only serve to harm you, including in terms of substantial economic losses. Rather than hiding away from your divorce and your divorce case, seek out an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer instead.

A recent divorce case in Annapolis offers many pointers about what not to do when your spouse initiates divorce proceedings.

The divorce involved a young couple with one child. The husband was in the Navy, while the wife worked as a proposal analyst for a software company. During the litigation, the wife did not comply with multiple “reasonable discovery requests” the husband made. The wife “simply ignored them and/or didn’t respond, and/or didn’t update any discovery responses she did make,” according to the trial court.

Last-Minute Prenuptial Agreements and the Law of Coercion and Duress in Maryland

January 10, 2025 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Ideally, a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement is something the spouses craft collaboratively, with both individuals having a clear understanding of the document’s terms, a meaningful opportunity to consult legal counsel, and plenty of time to make an informed decision about whether or not to sign. Sometimes, though, that does not happen. When it doesn’t, the result may be an invalid and unenforceable agreement. Whether you are considering creating (or signing) a prenuptial/postnuptial agreement or need to pursue invalidating one, having a knowledgeable Maryland family law attorney on your side can be vital to your success.

A celebrity divorce — and questions around the enforceability of the couple’s prenup — were in the news last year.

Early last year, Jeannie Mai, a TV host whose credits included the 2022 and 2023 Miss Universe pageants, sought to set aside the prenuptial agreement she and her husband, rap star Jeezy, had signed. Mai argued in court papers that the contract was invalid because “she signed the prenup paperwork only five days before [the] wedding and could not thoroughly examine” the document.