Most people know that a parent who owes child support owes that obligation until the child turns 18 (or 19 if the child turned 18 while still in high school,) unless a court order terminates that obligation at some earlier point. Many families in which one parent owes an obligation…
Maryland Divorce Lawyer Blog
What to Do When Your Ex-Spouse Seeks to Introduce ‘Improper, Immaterial, Impertinent or Scandalous’ Material into Your Family Law Case in Maryland
Divorce and divorce-related legal cases often involve deep-seated emotions. They are cases that intertwine the coldly legal and the intensely personal. Those truths can sometimes lead your ex-spouse to try to bring into your case things that, while perhaps important to him personally, are not important legally to resolution of…
New Maryland Court Rules Require Parents to Complete a Parenting Plan: What that Means for You in Your Custody Case
Each state has its own laws regarding child custody and those laws get minor updates periodically. Less frequently, though, a larger change takes place. Maryland, for example, now has a requirement that each set of parents must complete something called a parenting plan. What, you may wonder, is a parenting…
How Having the Right Maryland Family Law Attorney Can Help if You Experience a Sudden Emergency that Affects Your Case
There are an absolutely enormous number of reasons why having a skilled family law attorney representing you is better than going it alone. You can probably think of a few… or maybe several. One of the ones that may not have occurred to you is when you have a sudden…
Approaching a Maryland Child Custody Case When Your Child’s Other Parent Has Drug, Alcohol, Mental Health or Other Personal Issues
The scenario is a familiar one for a lot of people. You meet someone and fall in love. Your partner has issues, but you rationalize them away. “She’s not perfect, but who is?” or “He’s got his problems, but I can change him,” you might say. So you get married…
My Spouse and I Entered into a Civil Union in Another State, But Never Married. Can We Get Divorced in Maryland?
Sometimes, people assume that all of the potential complications and challenges faced by long-term committed same-sex couples ended when the U.S. Supreme Court made its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015 that established marriage equality in all 50 states. That, of course, is far from always being true.…
When You Can Get Your Maryland Divorce Case Reopened to Seek a Recalculation of Child Support
If you are familiar with child support, then you know how important proof of the parents’ actual incomes is. That’s because, in most situations, the court will base the amount of support on the parents’ actual current incomes unless there is substantial proof (and a finding from the judge) that…
My Spouse and I Signed a Separation Agreement in Maryland, Then Reconciled. Now We’re Getting Divorced. What Happens to Our Agreement?
There are countless ways that an experienced Maryland family law attorney can help you in your divorce case, whether your case is straightforward or complex. If your situation is “unconventional,” it may require an especially in-depth and nuanced understanding of the law in order to get you to a positive…
Proceed With Extreme Caution When Your Ex-Spouse Proposes an Agreement in Your Maryland Divorce Case, but Demands that You Not Consult Your Attorney
You’ve probably signed various contractual documents in your life, including employment agreements, leases and mortgages. When reviewing those contracts, you may have taken great care to check over every paragraph before you signed and you may have sought legal advice, as well. As you’re going through the divorce process, it…
I Made a Promise to My Spouse as Part of a Religious Marriage Ceremony. Can the Maryland Courts Order Performance of that Promise?
Even in this country where many prize the “separation of church and state,” there are times where religion and secular law unavoidably intermingle. Marriage is often one of those. You and your spouse’s process of becoming one married couple is a civil legal one but, for many, it’s a religious…